A Day To Remember Win $4 Million Lawsuit Against Victory Records
Law360.com reports that A Day To Remember have won their long-standing lawsuit against Victory Records — filed back in 2011 — and the label has been ordered to pay the band $4 million in unpaid royalties and withheld money from merchandise and digital download sales. The jury decided that prior recordings and live albums did indeed count towards fulfilling A Day To Remember’s five album deal with Victory, and that the band would retain publishing ownership of their songs while the label would keep the masters.
The PRP has summed things up very nicely:
An Illinois jury has decided in A Day To Remember‘s favor in their long-running court battle with Victory Records. The band first filed suit against the label back in 2011, alleging breach of contract, disputed ownership of the band’s copyrighted works and more. The label meanwhile argued that the band exited the label before fulfilling the commitment of albums delivered via their recording contract. That contract stipulated five albums to be delivered, with Victory Records arguing that re-releases of prior recorded output and live recordings didn’t count towards the stipulated albums.
As the years progressed, the divide between the two parties grew uglier with Victory Records eventually withholding payments of royalties to the band after they allegedly spiked a merchandise deal the label had with Hot Topic.
Law360.com report that the two-week trial ended yesterday, November 22nd, resulting in the jury siding with the band and that Victory Records will be forced to pay the band $4 million dollars for unpaid royalties and withheld proceeds from digital downloads and merchandise sales. In particular, they found that some of the albums Victory Records had released by the band did count towards their contract.
Further:
As the jury did not agree with Victory Records on this assertion, they found the label at fault. Furthermore, the jury granted the band the composition rights to their songs, while Victory Records were awarded the sound recording copyrights. Bassist Josh Woodard commented to law360.com of the verdict saying that it was: “Incredible, a little surreal, like you can breathe finally.”
More available at Law360.com; it’s a pay service, but there’s a trial subscription that’s free for 7 days.
