George Clinton performing with Parliament-Funkadelic. Photo Credit: JIP
Parliament and Funkadelic frontman George Clinton has fired off a lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) for allegedly withholding $1.1 million in royalties “without contractual justification” across a multi-year stretch.
Clinton just recently submitted the breach of contract action to a Michigan federal court, naming UMG as the lone defendant. While the 20-page complaint isn’t short on moving parts or details, the “straightforward” descriptor therein appears to be more or less accurate.
Turning the clock back to 2022, the estate of Parliament-Funkadelic co-founder Bernie Worrell sued Clinton (and UMG as well as the other majors plus SoundExchange to boot), alleging an ownership interest in multiple recordings under a 1976 contract. Long story short, UMG was dropped as a defendant in 2023, and the Worrell estate, having subsequently suffered a summary judgment defeat, is currently appealing.
Despite Clinton’s victory and UMG’s exit from the litigation, the major is allegedly withholding “100% of royalties from” the Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee “across every royalty account, including accounts for sound recordings that have no factual or legal nexus whatsoever to the Worrell” estate claims.
All told, that comes out to the mentioned $1.1 million in allegedly due payments; the “funds have been frozen for more than three years, with no legal justification, financially crippling” Clinton, according to the suit.
Per the plaintiff, UMG has attributed the alleged payments pause to a royalty-withholding clause in their 1980 agreement. Among other things, the major “’shall be entitled to withhold from any amounts payable’” to Clinton under the pact – to the tune of however much “’as may be reasonably necessary’” to protect it from liability against certain third-party actions.
But in Clinton’s view, the Worrell estate’s claims don’t fit the bill because UMG is no longer a party to the complaint, and “[n]o judgment can be entered against UMG in a case in which it is not a defendant.”
Moreover, “even in the highly unlikely event” of an appellate-court loss for Clinton, “UMG would face no liability.” Rather, the Rock Hall of Famer himself would be required to acknowledge the estate’s 50% ownership in the relevant recordings and to cough up the corresponding royalties.
“In sum, the Estate’s most aggressive theory of recovery in the Worrell Litigation is necessarily limited to a 50% co-ownership interest in recordings made during a single calendar year (1976), under a putative agreement that has been declared unenforceable,” the legal text reads. “Yet UMG is withholding 100% of royalties from every Clinton account spanning the entirety of Clinton’s recording career, both before and after 1976.”
Overall, Clinton’s royalty payments are said to be on hold across 12 distinct accounts; some of the allegedly owed compensation pertains to the filing party’s work on non-Parliament and -Funkadelic efforts.
“For example, UMG has frozen tens of thousands of dollars in royalties generated from Clinton’s independent production work for the rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers,” the suit states.
Consequently, Clinton is seeking “substantially in excess of $1.1 million.” On the “excess” front, besides straight royalties, the plaintiff is looking to obtain a piece of “any and all earnings accrued on the wrongfully withheld funds” via UMG investments, interest calculated based on each payment’s initial due date, and an “injunction prohibiting UMG from continuing to withhold royalties.”
