Music

Cash Money Records owes EMI $500,000 in unpaid sample clearances

by Aaron Zorgel

EMI is suing Cash Money Records for late payments. According to a suit filed in the U.S. Federal Court in the Southern District of New York, Cash Money failed to pay a remaining balance of $392,940.93 for clearance of an undisclosed amount of samples that appeared on Tha Carter III.

The unpaid fees are part of a settlement to an initial lawsuit filed in 2009, stating Cash Money was guilty of “direct, contributory and vicarious inducement of copyyright infringement, unfair competition and breach of contract.” Cash Money made a payment of $1.5 million towards the settlement, with a second and final payment to be made in 2010. This balance has yet to be taken care of, and with interest and penalties, the total amount owed to EMI is now $491,176.16.

Tha Carter III has sold over 3.5 million records, so it’s no surprise that EMI is going after their piece of the pie. Here is a list of the samples that are included on the record:

“A Milli” contains samples of “Don’t Burn Down the Bridge” by Gladys Knight & the Pips and “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo (Vampire Mix)” by A Tribe Called Quest.
“Comfortable” contains samples of “You Don’t Know My Name” by Alicia Keys and “Player’s Ball” by OutKast.
“Dr. Carter” contains a sample of “Holy Thursday” by David Axelrod.
“Let the Beat Build” contains a sample of “Day by Day” by Eddie Kendricks.
“Dontgetit” contains a sample of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by Nina Simone.
“Action” contains a sample of “I’m So Hood” by DJ Khaled.
“I’m Me” contains samples of “Go D.J.”, “Fireman”, “Hustler Musik”, and “Cash Money Millionaires” by Lil Wayne, “God Moving Over the Face of the Waters” by Moby, and “Rubberband Man” by T.I.
“Gossip” contains a sample of “Stop in the Name of Love” by Margie Joseph.
“Kush” contains a sample of “Honey Wild” by Con Funk Shun.

A rep from Cash Money has since said that they will settle the debt with EMI “amicably.” I’m sure Cash Money isn’t stressing it, thanks to all of that Limp Bizkit money coming their way in 2012.