Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst filed a $200 million lawsuit against Universal Music Group in a federal court in Los Angeles, CA today, October 08th. Durst claims in his suit that UMG intentionally deprived him and his bandmates in nü-metal stars Limp Bizkit out of millions in owed royalties thanks to deceptive and “fraudulent” accounting practices.
Durst further claims that artists signed under his past Interscope/Geffen/A&M imprint label of Flawless Records have also been shorted on owed royalties due to said practices. Some of the bands who inked deals with that label venture included hard rockers Puddle Of Mudd (who had a 3x multi-platinum hit with their 2001 album “Come Clean“), plus Big Dumb Face, a side project of Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland, The Revolution Smile, Kenna, Sinisstar, and several others.
According to Billboard, Durst & Limp Bizkit are seeking to establish royalties owed on some 45 million copies sold of the albums the group recorded and released amid their late 90s/early 2000s heyday. Thanks to renewed interest in the band and nü-metal in recent years, the group’s music also continues to perform admirably on digital service providers as well, with the complaint stating that Limp Bizkit‘s catalog is expected to rack up 793 million streams this year alone.
According to the complaint, Limp Bizkit signed a what appeared to be a then conventional record deal, in which an artist is advanced a sum of money ahead of the writing/recording process, with the label then being entitled to recoup that initial investment before passing future royalty earnings to the artist.
As was commonplace for those type of deals at the time, in addition to advances, record companies can also claim marketing, music video budgets and more among these expenses they seek to recoup ahead of the artist being paid on the backend.
Durst alleges that UMG told the band that they had spent $43 million in advances and associated costs attributed to Limp Bizkit‘s musical career. As such, he claimed that he had “never received any royalties from UMG.” Durst also alleges that UMG informed him they had not been paying him royalties on his recorded works, nor providing him of the updates on payment, “since his account was still so far from recoupment.”
Durst however disputes that, alleging that Flip Records, an indie label which Limp Bizkit, Staind, Cold and more signed with, had been found to have engaged in a profit-sharing scheme with UMG.
Flip Records was founded by eventual Geffen Records President Jordan Schur. That label initially aligned with Interscope Records and helped launch Limp Bizkit‘s career with the release of the band’s 1997 debut album “Three Dollar Bill, Y’all“, as well as their subsequent hit albums, 1999’s 7x multi-platinum “Significant Other“, and 2000’s “Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water“.
Durst claims to have obtained new representation who began investigating the lack of royalty payments this past April. It was first discovered that UMG never alerted him or the band to a payment of $1.03 million awaiting payment to the band. He claims the company blamed that lack of notification of royalties on a software error.
Since his representatives began poking around into the matter, he claims that UMG have released the aforementioned $1.03 million to the band, and $2.3 million to his Flawless Records label. However, he and his representatives further insist that UMG have been engaging in “fraudulent accounting practices” in order to avoid paying royalties in general to a number of artists, including himself and his bandmates, in a bid to enrich themselves.
Durst‘s complaint stated of that:
“UMG’s creation of such a system, while holding itself out as a company that prides itself on investing in and protecting its artists, makes plaintiffs’ discovery of UMG’s scheme all the more appalling and unsettling.”
The complaint further suggests that potentially “hundreds” of other artists signed to the label over the years may have fallen victim to this alleged scheme. Durst alleges that UMG never intended to pay any royalties to him and his associated bands and isn’t just seeking the aforementioned staggering sum of money in damages.
He has also set out to void Limp Bizkit‘s contract with the label, allowing the band to gain ownership of the records Limp Bizkit released under the UMG umbrella, as well as albums Durst released for other artists via his Flawless Records imprint. The suit also potentially seeks to establish further copyright damages against UMG if that should happen.
A portion of Durst‘s complaint spelled out their intent in that regard:
“Given the vast amounts of money collected by UMG in relation to sales of Limp Bizkit’s and Flawless Records’ albums over the years … UMG is liable to plaintiffs for tens of millions of dollars in copyright infringement, if not more. Indeed, Plaintiffs allege that the amounts owed to them by UMG following the rescission of these agreements will easily surpass $200 million.”
