Black Sheep Sue Universal Music Group Over Spotify Stock Sales -

On Wednesday, January 4, a class action lawsuit was filed by hip hop duo Black Sheep, suing Universal Music Group over its Spotify equity ownership. Andres Titus and William McLean of Black Sheep claim that Universal owes them and other artists approximately $750 million in unpaid royalties. This is because UMG allegedly agreed to accept lower royalty rates from Spotify in exchange for shares in the streaming service in 2008. Universal has publicly pledged to share proceeds from its Spotify equity with the artists on its roster, if it ever were to sell. This is lower than it was in 2008. UMG reportedly acquired a share of the company of just over 5%, which then rose to 7% in 2018 when UMG acquired the music industry company EMI, which had its own 2% stake. UMG's shareholding in Spotify fell due to share dilutions caused by further investments.