The widow of the late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, Vicky has filed a lawsuit against the remaining members of the band.
Vicky Cornell is asking a judge to settle a dispute over how much her stake in Soungarden, inherited from the late Chris Cornell is worth.
This latest episode in the ongoing feud between Vicky and the rest of the band was sparked when Soundgarden fielded an offer from an unamed third party looking to purchase the band’s recorded music catalog.
This offer was reportedly worth $16 million. But Vicky claims that the band offered to buy her husband’s interest “for the villainously low figure of less than $300,000″.
Vicky posted on Instagram, “My truth stands stronger than your lies. My will stands stronger than your motives. My love stands stronger than your hate”.
This lawsuit claims that this offer falls exceedingly lower than the royalties Vicky received in 2018 for Soundgarden master recordings alone.
The lawsuit also claims that the figure Soundgarden came up with was a “valuation that is inconsistent with industry custom and standard and riddled with methodological flaws, discounts valuable partnership assets, and disregards that, when an iconic performer of Chris’ stature dies, the value of the band increases”.
The lawsuit also claims that the band denied Vicky access to financial and inventory documents. These documents would allow her to assess the band’s partnership properly.
Vicky has asked the judge to determine a buyout price for the master recordings, as well as other assests including future merchandise sales. This also includes, “nostalgic fuelled projects” like potential tours with a new singer and “deep-fake renditions of Chris’ vocals drawn from extant recordings by artificial intelligence that could mint brand new Soundgarden hits”.
“Continued to try to settle all disputes”
A representative on Soundgarden’s behalf issued a statement, “As requested by the Estate of Chris Cornell and as required by the laws of the State of Washington, the surviving members of Soundgarden submitted to the Cornell Estate four months ago a buyout offer of the Estate’s interests in Soundgarden calculated by respected music industry valuation expert Gary Cohen”.
They also said, “Since then, the band members have continued to try to settle all disputes with the Cornell Estate and in their several attempts to settle, the band members have elected to offer multiple times more than the amount calculated by Cohen. This dispute has never been about money for the band. This is their life’s work and their legacy”.
“Absurd” & “Hypocritical”
In a statement to Rollingstone, Vicky Cornell’s lawyer Marty Singer called Soundgarden’s claim that this dispute is not about money “absurd” and “hypocritical”. He also said this is about money and their “greed”.
Mr Singer continued, “They received a third party offer to buy just a portion of their interests for $16 million, and yet subsequently offered to buy out Chris’ interest for a mere $278,000.
He also added, “And then Vicky offered $21 million for their shares, which they turned down, not because they wanted to preserve their life’s work, but because they know that they will make even more off of future exploitation of the music that Chris wrote and the legacy that he created (which has lined their pockets for years)”.
