In Re Warner Music Group Corp. Digital Downloads Litigation
Pearson, Simon & Warshaw is currently serving as co-lead counsel on
behalf of a class of royalty recipients who have contracts with Warner
Music Group Corp. ("WMG"). The complaint alleges that WMG failed
to properly credit royalty payments to Class Members from the exploitation
of digital downloads and mastertones of recordings under certain contracts.
The Plaintiffs claimed that exploitation of digital downloads and mastertones
should be counted as a "license" (and most WMG contracts provide
a higher royalty rate for licenses) rather than as a "sale"
of a record.
The parties entered into a class-wide settlement agreement which was finally
approved by the Court on January 12, 2015. The settlement provides relief
for past royalties and an increased royalty rate for future royalty payments.
The parties are in the process of calculating the amounts due Authorized
Claimants, which process will take time. Past relief payments, retroactive
royalty rate increase payments, and use of increased royalty rates are
currently scheduled to be included with the December 31, 2015 royalty
statements
The official
notice of settlement provides complete details about the terms of settlement, deadlines and
procedures for making a claim. Additional details about the settlement
as well as court documents can be found on the settlement website,
www.wmgdownloadsettlement.com.
The case is captioned,
In Re: Warner Music Group Corp. Digital Downloads Litigation, Case No. 12-CV-0559-RS.
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