NME reports..
Kieran Hebden argues that he’s owed royalties at a higher percentage rate
Four Tet is claiming damages against Domino for a historic royalty rate applied to downloads and streaming revenue of his music first released in the noughties.
Kieran Hebden, who performs under the Four Tet moniker, alleges that the label is in breach of contract over its 18 per cent royalty rate (which Domino applied to record sales) and that a “reasonable” rate of 50 per cent should have been given to downloads/streams.
In legal documents seen by Music Week Hebden and his lawyers have argued that “a reasonable royalty rate…has at all material times been at least 50 per cent”. The contract itself, signed in February 2001 long before the proliferation of streaming platforms and the first iPod, stated that record sales are subject to a royalty rate of 18 per cent.
However, one clause in the contract reads: “In respect of the exploitation of the Masters and any videos embodying the Masters and received by us from our licensees outside the UK we shall credit your audio and audio-visual royalty accounts respectively with 50 per cent of all royalties and fees arising from such exploitation.”
Hebden’s case states it “will contend that a reasonable royalty rate in respect of revenues derived from exploitation by way of streaming and/or digital download under the implied term of the 2001 Agreement has at all material times been at least 50 per cent; Four Tet’s position as to the precise rate is reserved pending evidence and/or expert evidence on this issue.”
