Soundgarden, Hole and the estate of Tom Petty, are part of a class action lawsuit against Universal Music Group.
It’s reported that the lawsuit alleges the musicians are owed significant financial damages. The lawsuit is looking for $100 million in remuneration and has been filed in the state of Los Angeles.
The file argues that the artists are owed 50% of an insurance settlement that Universal received after the master tapes for numerous artists were lost in a 2008 fire.
According to Alternative Nation, Courtney Love tweeted a link to a Los Angeles Times article, “Soundgarden, Tupac, Hole and more sue Universal Music over recordings destroyed in 2008 fire.”
Soundgarden, Tupac, Hole and more sue Universal Music over recordings destroyed in 2008 fire https://t.co/Dh3RG7ks67
— Courtney Love Cobain (@Courtney) June 22, 2019
The lawsuit claims that Universal did not take “all reasonable steps to make sure [master recordings] are not damaged, abused, destroyed, wasted, lost or stolen” and “it did not ‘speak up immediately [when it saw] abuse or misuse’ of assets.”
The file claims that the Universal Studios vault that stored the recordings were “an inadequate, substandard storage warehouse… that was a known firetrap….”
“Immediately after the fire, UMG embarked on a systematic and fraudulent scheme of misrepresentation and misdirection designed to conceal the loss of the master recordings destroyed in the fire.”
“To this day, UMG has not informed Plaintiffs that any Master Recordings embodying musical works owned by them were destroyed in the fire, and has refused to disclose or account to Plaintiffs for settlement proceeds and insurance payments received by UMG for the loss of the Master Recordings.”
Don’t forget you can keep up-to-date on all things Nova over on our Instagram page – follow us for all the craziness of radio life coupled with news, sports and LOTS of cool competitions! Click here…
