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BMG has entered into a strategic partnership with the TUM School of Management as it looks to fast-track the implementation of artificial intelligence across the Berlin-based company’s marketing campaigns for artists. BMG said in its announcement on Tuesday (Jan. 30) that it sees generative AI as a way to help manage the complex array of […]
After years of stagnancy, women are gaining ground on the charts and at the Grammys.
A report on gender equality in the music industry by Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative — which was supported by Spotify and is the latest in an annual series released by the groups — assessed 12 years and 1,200 songs from the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts, looking at artists, songwriters and producers.
The study, Inclusion in the Recording Studio? Gender & Race/Ethnicity of Artists, Songwriters & Producers across 1,100 Popular Songs from 2012 to 2022, is out Tuesday (Jan. 30.)
The study’s key takeaway is that women’s participation in music creation, which has historically lagged, has improved across several metrics.
On the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts, the percentage of women artists reached 35%, a 12-year high. The study attributes this change to the fact that 40.6% of spots on these charts in 2023 were occupied by individual women artists, an increase over 2022 when the number was 34.8%. Improvements were less significant for women-led bands or duos.
The number of women songwriters also increased, from 14.1% in 2022 to 19.5% in 2023. The study notes that this change was due “almost exclusively to the number of women of color credited as songwriters in 2023.” The reports cites 55 women of color receiving a songwriting credit in 2023, a jump from 33 women of color 2022 and 14 in 2012.
Fifty-six percent of songs in 2023 included at least one woman songwriter — an increase from 2022 and the highest percentage in 12 years.
“The changes for songwriters are doubtlessly due to the work of numerous groups working to support women in music,” Dr. Smith says in a statement. “Whether She Is The Music, Spotify Equal, Moving the Needle, Women’s Audio Mission, Be the Change, Keychange, Girls Make Beats, or others, there has been a groundswell of support for women across the last several years. This advocacy and activism is propelling change in the industry. While there is work to be done, these groups are well-positioned to keep fighting for change.”
In the producing realm, fourteen, or 6.5%, of the producers credited in 2023 were women. This surpassed the previous record of 4.9% in 2019. Nearly half, or six, of the women producers in 2023 were women of color. But, over the nine years the study has assessed gender equality in production, 94% of the evaluated songs did not include a single woman producer. Across nine years, there have been 29.8 men to every one woman working as a producer.
The race/ethnicity of artists is also a focus of the report. In 2023, 61% of the artists on the Hot 100 Year-End Charts were from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group, while 39% were white. This was a 12-year high and an increase from 2022, when the number was 50.6%, but not significantly greater than the percentage of underrepresented artists in 2020, when the number was 59%.
The study also assessed the six major Grammy categories: record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, best new artist, producer of the year and songwriter of the year.
The study found that nearly a quarter (24%) of nominations across these six categories went to women in 2024 — a jump from 15.5% in 2023. This overall change was reflected in four categories: record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, and best new artist. This year, nominees in these categories include Taylor Swift, Victoria Monét, SZA, Miley Cryus, boygenius, Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo. In each of these categories, the percentage of women nominees increased significantly from 2023 to 2024 and from the first year the awards were evaluated in 2013.
For the fifth year in a row, no women were nominated for producer of the year.
“Awards like the Grammys show us how women’s contributions to the industry are received,” Dr. Smith says. “The increases in nominations this year are a positive step in recognizing the creative work that women did last year in competitive fields. The Recording Academy has clearly taken inclusion seriously and worked to increase the diversity of its membership, particularly its voting members.”
But, she continues, “There is still too little recognition for women producers and songwriters in those categories, and there are too few women of color nominated for their work. For music industry honors to truly reflect the creative workforce and the audience they serve, there must be a place for women and particularly women of color in these awards.”
Other key findings:
• In 2023, 164 artists appeared on the Hot 100 Billboard Year-End Chart. Of these, 64.6% were men, 34.8% were women, and 0.6% were gender non-binary.
• Across the 12-year sample, women artists were the most likely to work in pop (34.7%) and least likely in alternative (14.4%) and hip-hop (14.9%).
• Across 12 years, Drake had the most credits as a solo artist, appearing 52 times, double that of Justin Bieber, who appears on 25 songs. Nicki Minaj was the woman with the highest number of credits, appearing 25 times, while Ariana Grande followed with 23 songs and Rihanna with 22.
• The percentage of underrepresented women on the charts in 2023 was 65%, with this number the same as 2022 and and almost doubling since 2012, when it was 33.3%. “Put differently,” the study says, “women of color continue to dominate the charts.”
• In terms of genre, across 12 years, women were most likely to write pop (20.1%) and dance/electronic (19.6%) songs, and least likely to write hip-hop and rap (7.5%) and country (9.9%) songs. Even in pop music, where women songwriters most often appear, they were outnumbered by male songwriter by a ratio of 4 to 1.
The United States Copyright Office is giving the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) and the Digital Licensee Coordinator (DLC) five-year check-ups with a re-designation process to ensure both are effectively fulfilling their purposes. Though this is the first time the organizations have been through this process, it is a routine occurrence that will take place every five years.
Under the review, both organizations must show compliance with the Music Modernization Act, which was passed in 2018 to replace the old song-by-song licensing system for digital streaming services with a new blanket license for musical work mechanicals. To administer the new blanket license, the MMA called for a mechanical licensing collective to be established.
At that time two entities applied, and the MLC was chosen because it was the only one that fit the MMA’s “endorsement” criteria, which said that the organization chosen as MLC had to have the support of much of the publishers and songwriters affected by the blanket license. The endorsement was meant to be “based on market share” and “measured by applicable licensing revenue.” Among others, the MLC was notably supported by the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), which represents the major publishers and many of the sizable indie publishers, giving it a robust coalition of support.
Similarly, the Digital Licensee Collector was intended to represent the majority interests of digital music providers affected by the blanket license in matters related to its administration. The DLC was the sole applicant and was supported by the major music streamers and the Digital Media Association (DiMA) trade organization. Both the MLC and DLC assumed their roles in 2019.
The review process will begin with the MLC and DLC writing self-reports about their performances to date as well as developments they are planning in the future.
In their comments, the two organizations will need to address several key points, as mandated by the Copyright Office. Among them: whether they have ample endorsements for their different sectors, whether they have the administrative capabilities necessary to fulfill their roles, how they govern themselves and more. The MLC must also respond to whether it has made progress on implementing the Copyright Office’s suggestions in their ‘Unclaimed Royalties’ report, and the DLC must explain how it has participated in the Copyright Royalty Board.
This self-reporting will be made available for the public. Songwriters, publishers and digital music providers can also submit their feedback about whether or not the MLC and the DLC should continue as they have been. The MLC and the DLC will then be allowed to respond to public submissions. There could also be “informal” meetings between the copyright office and the organizations to address “discrete issues” prior to making the final re-designation determination.
Last June, Congress gave the MMA a five-year review — inviting a number of stakeholders, including the leaders of DiMA and the MLC — to speak to the strengths and weaknesses of the MMA and the MLC. The comments submitted in this proceeding will likely echo some of what was raised at this hearing.
If the MLC or DLC are rejected, the Copyright Office will ask for proposals for new offices that could handle these roles in the Federal Register. But it is not expected for either organization to be replaced.
“We welcome the announcement of the Register of Copyrights commencing the first review of The MLC’s designation as required by the MMA,” says MLC CEO Kris Ahrend about the re-designation. “We are confident that this review will confirm that The MLC continues to meet all of the criteria set out in the MMA, while affording us the opportunity to highlight the many successes our team and our stakeholders have achieved since launching The MLC’s full operations.”
Piping-hot R&B singer and songwriter Coco Jones signs with Warner Chappell Music, just days out from the 66th annual Grammy Awards where she’s nominated in five categories.
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Announced today (Jan. 30), Jones strikes an exclusive publishing agreement with the major music publisher. “Music has been a constant in my life and the motivation that has anchored me since the very beginning,” she comments in a statement. “Discovering a team at Warner Chappell that shares that same passion and understands my voice and vision is very special to me.”
Born in South Carolina and raised in Lebanon, Tennessee, Jones is all-round entertainer. At age 12, she embarked on the path to tween stardom with roles on Disney Channel shows and films like So Random! and Let It Shine; appeared in the sitcom Good Luck Charlie; and more recently, she won the role of Hilary Banks on Peacock’s Fresh Prince reboot, Bel-Air.
In 2022, she signed with High Standardz/Def Jam Recordings, and the following year landed her breakthrough with the RIAA platinum-certified, Billboard Hot 100 hit single, “ICU.”
“Coco is a natural superstar,” comments Xavier Champagne, senior director, urban A&R, WCM, following the signing. “She’s a top-tier performer and has a special talent for songwriting that connects deeply with her fans.”
Now, industry plaudits await. At the 2024 Grammys this Sunday (Feb. 4), Jones will compete for best R&B song and best R&B performance (both for “ICU”), best new artist, best R&B album for What I Didn’t Tell You (Deluxe) and best traditional R&B performance for her collaboration with Babyface, “Simple.”
“Coco Jones has one of the most unique voices out there, and it’s great to see her having her moment as both a songwriter and artist,” enthuses Ryan Press, president, North America, WCM. “She’s helping pave an entirely new era of R&B and her hustle and work ethic have led to a year of breakthroughs. Now let’s go win some Grammys.”
Elon Musk’s social media platform X has restored searches for Taylor Swift after temporarily blocking users from seeing some results as pornographic deepfake images of the singer circulated online. Searches for the singer’s name on the site Tuesday turned up a list of tweets as normal. A day earlier, the same search resulted in an […]
Anthem Entertainment has acquired select copyrights in the catalogs of hit songwriter Luke Laird and Nashville-based music company Creative Nation, which is led by Luke and music industry executive (and Luke’s wife) Beth Laird. In an Instagram post, Beth Laird noted that Anthem has acquired the released songs in the Creative Nation catalog, alongside Luke Laird’s released songs.
The Creative Nation catalog includes more than 60 radio singles, including numerous chart-topping hits such as Sam Hunt’s “Hard to Forget” and Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar” and “Adore You,” as well as songs recorded by Lady Gaga, Sam Smith, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, The Highwomen, Tim McGraw, Sara Bareilles, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Jordan Davis and Kacey Musgraves.
Pennsylvania native Luke Laird is a three-time Grammy-nominated songwriter, as well as the Academy of Country Music’s songwriter of the year in 2015. He has earned 24 chart-topping songs and six CMA Triple Play awards (with each CMA Triple Play honor recognizing three No. 1 songs within a one-year span). Among his hit songs are Kacey Musgraves’ “Space Cowboy,” Eric Church’s “Drink in My Hand,” Kenny Chesney’s “American Kids,” Carrie Underwood’s “Temporary Home” and Tim McGraw’s “Diamond Rings and Old Barstools.”
Creative Nation was founded in 2011 and works in publishing, management, artist development and records. The company supports a roster that includes singer-songwriter Kassi Ashton, “Pontoon” songwriter Barry Dean, “Humble and Kind” songwriter Lori McKenna, “Riser” songwriter Steve Moakler, Travis Wood and Ben West.
“Luke and I have worked hard to sign quality people and songwriters and continue to commit to that,” Creative Nation co-founder/CEO Beth Laird said in a statement. “We are excited to announce that Anthem Music Publishing purchased Creative Nation’s exploited songs from the past 11 years. I’m grateful to Jason Klein, Sal Fazzari, Andrew Jamal, Adrian Battiston, and Gilles Godard, and everyone at Anthem who worked with our team (Derek Crownover, Megan Pekar, John Rolfe, Chris King and Kella Farris) for making this such a smooth and transparent process. It’s great to know our past copyrights are being taken care of by a great publisher and we are excited to continue building Creative Nation.”
Luke Laird added in a statement, “Over the years I have been fortunate to have songs recorded by so many incredible artists. I’m grateful that a company as renowned as Anthem sees the value in these songs, and I’m excited my exploited copyrights have been sold to Anthem alongside the Creative Nation songs.”
Anthem Music Publishing Nashville president Gilles Godard added, “I have watched Luke and Beth build a world class catalog over the last decade with iconic copyrights and amazing diversity from country to global pop hits. It is an honor and a privilege to now represent this impressive legacy body of work.”
Anthem Entertainment has deepened its country music interests in recent years, including acquiring a majority share of singer-songwriter Jordan Davis’s publishing catalog last year.
As part of our continuing efforts to serve the music industry and its creators, Billboard Pro now features a music industry events calendar for readers.
The calendar will act as music’s most complete summary major national and international industry events, from conferences to festivals to networking mixers and more. Just as Billboard is music’s must-read source for news, charts and analysis, now it also is the go-to for business happenings.
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Dec. 4–10 – XLive (Las Vegas)
Want your event listed? For more information contact joe.maimone@billboard.com.
Artist development isn’t dead, but it sure has changed. Two decades ago, a 20-something jazz musician named Norah Jones became a breakout star for Blue Note Records, a traditional route to stardom when people still bought CDs and social media didn’t exist. Last year’s breakout jazz artist, Laufey, cultivated a fan base on TikTok and posts sheet music for her songs online so fans can download it before the recordings come out.
To AWAL CEO Lonny Olinick, Laufey’s success is a sign of the times. The Icelandic singer built an online following by herself, but she needed a team to develop her career and handle marketing and promotion logistics. Her second AWAL album, Bewitched, topped Billboard’s Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums charts in September. “We’re seeing this real inflection point where artists are starting to, with their own teams and then between the team and AWAL, realize that there are no barriers in what can be achieved,” says Olinick, who earned an MBA from Stanford Business School and worked at consulting firm Bain & Company before joining Kobalt in 2016.
Artists such as JVKE, whose “Golden Hour” reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022, and Mercury Prize winner Little Simz have used AWAL to find success outside of the major-label system. AWAL’s services-focused approach is becoming the norm as major labels increasingly provide distribution, marketing, promotion, accounting and even financing without needing to own the rights to artists’ recordings as part of standard deals. Sony Music acquired AWAL in 2022 to complement its labels and its distribution business, The Orchard. Universal Music Group is also building its own artist services business, through a revamped Virgin Label Group.
A pingpong table that Olinick says “we have artists sign when they’re in the L.A. office.”
Maggie Shannon
Paradoxically, services-based music companies still have to do many of the same things as traditional labels — just with different deals. Only recently, Olinick says, has the 16-year-old company truly met that challenge. “Last year and the year before were probably the first years where we fully realized that vision, where I’m confident that we can do all of the things that exist in the traditional world.”
Most people in the music industry understand record labels and distributors, but services-based companies are a bit harder to get. How would you describe AWAL to the uninitiated?
The most important part of music in my mind is artist development. You try to find artists who have great music, compelling stories and a work ethic and try to help them forge their own path. And throughout history, the best artists have been artists who don’t fit in a box, and the path that they take is completely bespoke. And you can’t do it again the same way. What we’ve tried to do is build a company that’s the best in the world at doing that — at finding outlier artists who have great stories to tell and helping them grow. You need a great marketing team, a great digital marketing team, radio, synch and branding — all the things that exist in the traditional world. What we’ve tried to do is build a company that can do all those things, just with a different business model to keep the economics in favor of the artist.
You don’t have an everyone’s-welcome model — you choose who you want to work with. How do you do that?
We’re very opinionated about music. It’s really important as a company to have that creative, A&R-driven aesthetic. There’s three dimensions to it in my mind. There’s the music: Does the music speak to people? Two, is there a story to be told, and does this person want to communicate something beyond just the music that’s interesting and compelling? And three, does the person have a work ethic? Being successful in music requires relentlessly hard work on all sides.
“I love art of all types and take a lot of inspiration from culture,” Olinick says. “These books cover amazing music, art and sneaker culture.”
Maggie Shannon
Tell me about the staff on the creative side, as well as the administrative one.
We do everything, but the majority of our staff is focused on A&R, marketing and creative. That’s where we think we can be different and where we can help our artists tell stories. There’s 180 people across 14 offices. It’s run as a global company. If we find a record in Sweden, the U.S. company can jump on it, or the U.K. company or the Canadian one. Everyone is working collaboratively to try to do the best they can for the artist. And in each of those offices, we have traditional marketing, digital marketing, synch, brand partnerships, publicity — we basically do everything that an artist needs largely in-house. And then to the extent that we feel like we need something beyond what our 180 people can do, we will partner.
What’s the financial commitment when you work with an artist? Are you always writing a check?
It depends. Some of the deals are unfunded. We’re fortunate to be a part of Sony, so if it makes sense and we believe in the opportunity, there’s no check we couldn’t write if it made sense. But each deal is bespoke for the artist. We try to put as much money into marketing as we possibly can because we believe that that’s the thing we can do that hopefully makes a difference.
This “thing with eyes is something my son made for me,” Olinick says. The feeling of being watched “keeps me motivated every day. The small trophy is from our office awards for ‘Person on the Phone the Most.’ I take great pride in that.”
Maggie Shannon
Sony acquired AWAL in 2022 and it already owned The Orchard. How do the two work together?
The whole Sony ecosystem makes a ton of sense, and AWAL and The Orchard are great examples of that. The Orchard is best in class at supporting record companies. And if you look at the scale at which they operate, and the quality of what they do on behalf of labels, there’s just no one who’s doing that kind of work. It’s an incredible team led by Brad [Navin] and Colleen [Theis], who are just incredible executives. I look at us in a very similar way: the best at doing artist development in this nontraditional way. Being able to work together on tools and distribution is a great advantage for our clients and for The Orchard’s clients.
Some artists have gone from majors or big indies to AWAL, including Nick Cave, Cold War Kids and Jungle. Have some artists gone from AWAL to majors?
Our job is to develop the best artists in the world. And I think if we do that — especially if we do that at any scale — there’s going to be certain artists where the deal offered by a major is really compelling. Early on, we saw a lot more artists who would migrate and go do another deal. We developed Steve Lacy, Omar Apollo and Kim Petras — artists who have gone on and had real success at majors.
“The Marshall cabinet is actually a refrigerator,” Olinick says. “My office tends to have items from our artists, but the exception is that Beatles collectible — I don’t have anything to do with The Beatles, but it reminds me to aspire to work with the greatest artists.”
Maggie Shannon
You’ve had some time to integrate into Sony. How has being part of this larger company changed your life as a CEO?
Anytime you go into these things you have aspirations for what it will be. At the same time, [merger and acquisition] deals tend not to be what you expected them to be. People think that I’m sometimes saying the company line, and it couldn’t be further from the truth: The experience has been phenomenal. That comes down to two dimensions. Rob [Stringer, Sony Music CEO] is just an incredible music executive who comes from an A&R perspective. Being a part of a company where he sets the tone that music is at the center of everything you do has made us a better company. And because of that, it has basically been, “Here’s all these resources that Sony has that you can take advantage of, but continue to run the company the way you have because we’ve had tons of success doing it.” It has all been additive.We have more resources to invest. We have better technology. We can partner with Sony in certain markets where it makes sense. We’re out there building local businesses in Spain, Brazil, Nigeria and India. The Sony team has been incredibly supportive. Everyone sees that this is a meaningful part of the business and because AWAL is so music-centered and so is Sony, there’s just a lot of mutual respect and collaboration. It has been nothing short of reenergizing in an already energized business.
The music business is undergoing some contraction with layoffs and consolidation. Do you foresee laying people off, or are you hiring?
We’re actively hiring. We hired a head of hip-hop and R&B last year in Norva Denton. We hired a senior vp of A&R in Chris [Foitel]. We hired Cami [Operé], who’s our publicist. We just hired a new CFO [Sumit Chatterjee]. We’ve hired in Spain, Brazil and Nigeria. We bought a company in India [digital distribution firm OKListen]. So, we’re actively in the market because the business continues to grow. We had our best year last year; we’ll have our best year this year.
As the music industry prepares to gather next week in Los Angeles for discussions on how to address climate change within the sector, a new initiative to better understand the scope of the challenge is underway.
On Monday (Jan. 29), MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative announced that it’s launching a comprehensive study of the live music industry’s carbon footprint. Co-funded and supported by Warner Music Group, Live Nation and Coldplay, the report will suggest solutions to reduce the environmental impact of live music events across all venue sizes, from, a statement says, “pubs and clubs to stadiums.”
Focused on the U.S. and U.K. markets, the partnership will begin with an initial research phase, with the resulting Assessment Report of Live Music and Climate Change expected to be complete by this July.
The report aims to provide a comprehensive assessment of the relationship between live music and climate change, to identify key areas where the industry and concertgoers can make tangible improvements to reduce emissions, to foster positive outcomes and to provide a detailed analysis of the latest developments in green technology and sustainable practices.
“I’m delighted that we will be working with our partners to co-create recommendations for a sustainable future in music,” says Professor John E. Fernandez, director of the ESI at MIT. “As well as jointly funding the research, I applaud the spirit of openness and collaboration that will allow us to identify specific challenges in areas such as live event production, freight and audience travel, and recommend solutions that can be implemented across the entire industry to address climate change.”
Coldplay has also committed to manufacturing all physical records for their forthcoming 2024 album from recycled plastic bottles, which a statement claims is the first initiative of its kind.
Coldplay is a longtime sustainability leader, with the band saying last June that its Music Of The Spheres tour has so far produced 47% fewer CO2e emissions than its previous tour and that it’s planted five million trees to date.
With fan travel being one of the biggest carbon emissions drivers in the music industry, in 2022 the band partnered with Live Nation and major public transportation providers to offer fans free or discounted rides to foster more sustainable travel. A study found that this initiative fostered a 59% average increase in public transport ridership on show days across four U.S. cities.
A contentious lawsuit over Jimi Hendrix’s music is going to trial, after a London judge ruled that the heirs of his former bandmates could continue to sue Sony Music over the rights to three classic albums.
The estates of bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell say they own a share of the rights to three albums created by the trio’s Jimi Hendrix Experience, and they’ve been battling in court for more than two years to prove it.
Sony had argued that the case should be dismissed because Redding and Mitchell both signed away their rights in the early 1970s shortly after Hendrix died, but a judge on London’s High Court ruled Monday that the dispute – over “arguably the greatest rock guitarist ever” — must be decided at trial.
“My overall conclusion is that the claims in respect of copyright and performers’ property rights survive and should go to trial,” Justice Michael Green wrote in his ruling, obtained by Billboard. The judge wrote that Redding and Mitchell’s heirs had “a real prospect of succeeding” on their argument that the decades-old releases “do not provide a complete defence” for Sony.
It’s unclear when the trial will take place. A rep for Sony did not immediately return a request for comment on the court’s decision. An attorney for the Hendrix estate, which is not formally a party to the U.K. case, did not immediately return a request for comment.
In a statement to Billboard, Redding and Mitchell’s attorneys said the ruling would mean “we can hopefully obtain some justice for the families” of the two musicians. “No one is denying that Jimi Hendrix was one of, if not, the greatest guitarist of all time. But he didn’t make his recordings alone, and they could not have achieved any success without the contributions of Noel and Mitch.”
Hendrix teamed up with Redding and Mitchell in 1966 to form the Experience, and the trio went on to release a number of now-iconic songs before Hendrix’s death, including “All Along The Watchtower,” which spent nine weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 and peaked at No. 20.
The current fight kicked off in 2021, when Redding and Mitchell’s heirs sent a letter in the U.K. claiming they own a stake in Hendrix’s music and arguing that they’re owed millions in royalties. Hendrix’s own estate and Sony responded a month later by preemptively suing in New York federal court, aiming to prove they were in sole control of the music. Redding and Mitchell’s heirs then filed their own case against Sony in British court.
The transatlantic dispute centers on agreements that Redding and Mitchell signed in New York in 1973 to resolve litigation after Hendrix died suddenly at the age of 27. In the settlement, the two men agreed not to sue Jimi’s estate and any record companies distributing his music in return for one-time payments — $100,000 paid to Redding and $247,500 to Mitchell.
Sony and the Hendrix estate have argued in court filings that those “broad releases” prohibit Redding and Mitchell’s heirs from making any legal claim to the band’s music. The heirs, on the other hand, say the two men died in poverty and that they’re legally entitled under U.K. law to a cut of the lucrative Hendrix Experience music they helped create.
On Monday, Justice Green did not rule on that core dispute, saying he “cannot decide those contentious issues” about the power of the release agreements signed by Redding and Mitchell. Instead, he ruled simply that there are “sustainable arguments on such issues that will have to be decided at a trial.”
In statement, a rep for the Redding and Mitchell estates said they looked forward to the trial. “Noel and Mitch died in penury despite being two thirds of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and owning the copyright in the recordings jointly with Jimi,” Edward Adams said. “We see our case as carrying a torch for Noel, in particular, who spent over three decades seeking justice.”
The trial will come after years of jockeying over whether the dispute should be heard first in American or British courts. In May, a U.S. federal judge ruled that the English litigation could take precedence, citing the fact that it had kicked off nearly a month earlier than the American case, and that a British appeals court had already ruled that their case could move forward. The U.S. case, filed in Manhattan federal court, is currently paused.