The new incarnation of Death Row Records does not have the rights to sell Dr. Dre's iconic rap album "The Chronic" digitally, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder ruling states that the rapper and producer has received far less money than he is due from online sales of the iconic 1992 album, which also helped launch the career of Snoop Dogg.
The ruling does not call for a halt of digital sales of Dre's music, but entitles him to receive 100 percent of the proceeds of online sales, his attorney, Howard King, told The Associated Press.
The rapper, whose real name is Andre Young, sued WIDEawke Death Row Records last year, claiming it was improperly selling "The Chronic" digitally and using some of his music on compilation albums without his permission.
Snyder's ruling states the label, which bought the original Death Row Records' holdings out of bankruptcy, does not have the right to put Dr. Dre's music on compilation or any other albums.
"For years, Death Row Records forgot about Dre when they continued to distribute his music digitally and combined his hits with weaker Death Row tracks in an attempt to elevate the stature of their other artists," King wrote in a statement. "We are gratified that the federal court has unambiguously declared that Death Row has no right to engage in such tactics, and must hold all proceeds from these illicit distributions in trust for our client."
Phone and email messages for WIDEawake's attorney, Michael Holtz, was not immediately returned Tuesday evening.
The rapper has a long history of battling Death Row Records, a label he confounded but later left.
The most recent case he filed centered on his 1996 exit agreement with the label, which called for him to receive 18 percent royalties on his music created while at Death Row and gave him substantial authority over how the songs were used.
The agreement states that WIDEawake can only sell Dre's music in the format it appeared in before the deal. Another of Dre's attorneys, Stephen Rothschild, told Snyder during arguments in court on Monday that meant it could only appear in four formats: CD, cassette, vinyl and 8-Track.
Bow Bow 4/20 baby im coming!
ReplyDeleteWhere is the mother fucking announcement!!! I stuck through all the bullshit and Dre himself said this was the day he was coming....I want a fucking date !! I'm not waiting any longer.
ReplyDeleteI think Dre is doing this on purpose. He's purposely not confirming anything, leaving people in the dark to build the hype. A lot of people are talking shit, but that's only cause the wait is driving them crazy. This is all part of his plan. He's probably sitting on his computer right now reading the shit people are saying and with the finished disc in hand, thinking "For this one single disc, I got all you by the balls." And then he'll probably follow that with a demonic evil laugh.
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