Eminem’s Royalty Battle: The Case That Changed Digital Music Deals

Slim Shady case is not the first time Eminem has ended up in a legal dispute!

The previous case concerned Eminem in the context of sales and licensing contracts for music downloads and other downloadable copyrighted material.

F.B.T. Productions and Eminem sued Aftermath Records, accusing the label of underreporting royalties for downloads and ringtones that were licensed to other platforms, which was a consequence of differentiating them into lower ‘Records Sold’ royalties and higher ‘Masters Licensed’ royalties.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a final ruling on the case, indicating how to classify digital sales by qualifying them for higher royalties.

This ruling became a precedent-setting and high-profile case because it did not only concern digital revenues from Eminem’s catalogue but also had a significant impact on the negotiations of many artists with record labels.