UMG Challenges Salt-N-Pepa’s Masters Lawsuit with Motion to Dismiss

Universal Music Group (UMG) has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit Salt-N-Pepa brought against the label in May, in which it accused UMG of refusing to return control of their master recordings.

Some context:

• In May Salt-N-Pepa (AKA Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton) sued UMG for refusing to grant them termination rights to reacquire their master recordings.

• In doing so they allege UMG violated the Copyright Act, which gives artists the right to reclaim control of their music’s intellectual property 35 years after its original release.

• In response, UMG claimed the duo’s termination notice was invalid, as per Music Ally.

An update:

• UMG has now motioned to dismiss the lawsuit.

• They claim Salt-N-Pepa don’t have termination rights because it was their producer, Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor, who signed their 1986 distribution deal with Next Plateau Records, not James and Denton.

• Next Plateau Records is now under the UMG umbrella.

• As per Billboard the motion reads: “There was never an intention to effectuate a copyright transfer from plaintiffs. The only transfer is made by producer as the copyright owner to Next Plateau. Because this is not a grant subject to termination by plaintiffs, plaintiff’s declaratory judgment claim as to the validity of their termination of purported grants concerning the sound recordings should be dismissed.”

• In other words, because Salt-N-Pepa did not sign their original deal with Next Plateau Records, UMG argue the judge should throw out the entire suit.

Salt-N-Pepa’s response:

• As per Billboard, a spokesperson said: “UMG’s response is just what we expected – an effort to avoid addressing the core issues facing Salt-N-Pepa and so many other artists in these circumstances. But we remain confident that the facts and the law are on our side.”