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Overrated reckons it’s being underpaid in Baby Come Back royalties dispute
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 7 November 2017
Universal Music is being sued in a royalties dispute over the 1977 hit ‘Baby Come Back’, with the plaintiffs accusing the major of providing royalty statements that are “intentionally confusing at best and misleading at worst”.
The 1970s record by Player was originally released by RSO Records, the British label run by music impresario Robert Stigwood. In the 1980s, RSO Records was absorbed by what ultimately became Universal Music, with much of its catalogue ending up with the mega-major’s UK division Polydor.
The lawsuit over the track is being pursued in the US by a company called Overrated Productions, which recently acquired a bunch of rights from record producer Dennis Lambert, who co-produced ‘Baby Come Back’.
The firm says that, since acquiring those rights, it has been reviewing royalty statements provided to the producer and that it reckons the major has been wilfully underpaying monies due on the record. This has been concealed, the lawsuit alleges, by deliberately confusing royalty statements.
Overrated Productions also takes issue with Universal making additional deductions as monies flow through its various international subsidiaries, a common practice at the majors, and a frequent bug bear of artists and their managers.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Overrated Productions is suing for breach of contract and unfair competition.
