“Artist managers and lawyers have been wondering for months when their artists will see money from the copyright settlements and how it will be accounted for,” said lawyer John Branca, who has represented Korn, Don Henley, and The Rolling Stones, among others.

This quote is just one of many from artist managers who have made claims that labels, like EMI, have not yet paid their clients from negotiated copyright settlements from recent lawsuits against music websites. In February 2008, the New York Post ran an article citing how some major labels (Sony, Universal Music, Warner Music, and EMI) sued several music websites for copyright infringement for playing and selling songs by their artists. Napster, for instance, had to pay the labels up to $270 million. YouTube also settled with the four labels under a revenue participation agreement. But for some reason, the labels have not yet paid the managers and the artists are tired of waiting. Most managers are getting edgy and are now considering taking more legal action.

Representatives from several labels say that the corporate bosses are still trying to figure out the best way to pay the artists. Managers believe that they’re just buying time since the industry has been financially declining for quite some time now.

Whatever the reason is, I’m sure the labels will eventually make payments to their artists. The last thing the majors need is a Screen Actors Guild type strike taking place.

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