Allman Brothers Sue Universal For $13 Million Over Royalties

The Allman Brothers are suing Universal Music for over $10 million because of unpaid royalties. In the suit, the veteran band allege that UMG owes them royalties from both CD sales and digital downloads, as well as payments from when the band's songs were sold by Capricorn Records. The lawsuit says that when the Allmans entered into a contract with Polydor in 1985 (Polydor was later bought by Universal), the deal called for the band to get paid half the profits of the sale of records by third parties, which includes iTunes downloads and ringtone sales. The band also accuses UMG of refusing to renegotiate the royalties and having a "wanton disregard" of their original contract. The sum total of the lawsuit is roughly $13 million, which is about $1 for every second of "Mountain Jam."

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Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

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