Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » F.B.T. Productions

Apple Fighting Against Musicians To Have Steve Jobs Deposition Made Public

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:10:31 +0000

In February 2009, I wrote an article about Eminem’s publishing company taking Universal Music Group to court and the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was going to testify. Jobs did provide a deposition for that case and now a group of musicians is bringing a class action lawsuit against UMG. These musicians are interested in hearing Jobs’ deposition from back then, but Apple is fighting against making the deposition public claiming that it contains ”highly confidential and proprietary trade secrets.”

When Jobs made the deposition back then, the court had to shut down to hear it. The judge ordered almost everybody out of the courtroom including UMG employees. When Jobs’ deposition was played before the jury, the judge had also closed the courtroom. Many people were ordered to leave and the transcripts from the trial sessions were filed under deal.

F.B.T. Productions were the producers of many hit Eminem songs and they filed a lawsuit against Aftermath Records, a division of UMG. This lawsuit has been watched closely by the music industry ever since the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that a contract between the parties should be read as treating digital music as “licenses” instead of “sales.” The two sides are going to find out how much exactly this will be worth in an upcoming trial. There are millions of dollars at stake here.

F.B.T. Productions Loses Lawsuit Against Universal Music

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:00:48 +0000

Mark and Jeff Bass are producers based out of Detroit that helped Eminem produce some of his tracks. They own a company called F.B.T. Productions and they decided to sue Universal Music Group and Aftermath Records, the record label founded by Dr. Dre. F.B.T. believes that they were owed more money from digital download sales. They argued that digital album sales are different froms ales of traditional CDs. However a judge ruled in favor of Universal Music.

F.B.T. wanted to have digital sales made on Apple iTunes be treated under a master recording deal between Universal and Apple. After that F.B.T. would have split the profits with Universal 50-50 and then provide part of that 50% to Eminem directly. However the record label is currently paying F.B.T. and Eminem 12% of sales which is the same rate agreed for the sale of physical albums.

The case was filed in late February.

[via AP]

Eminem’s Publishing Company Takes Universal To Court, Steve Jobs To Testify

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:04:18 +0000

Eminem’s publishing company F.B.T. Productions will finally be appearing in court against Universal Music Group over digital music royalties. The trial will feature witnesses such as Universal Music Group head Jimmy Iovine and Apple CEO Steve Jobs via video. F.B.T. Productions is seeking additional royalties from purchases made through digital music services like iTunes. Eminem himself isn’t expected to appear in court.

Eminem sued Universal based on how much the record company was taking away in digital royalties. If P.B.T. wins the case, it could significantly impact how much the record labels make from online music sales. This past summer, fellow Detroit native artist Kid Rock decided to have his music removed from iTunes because the record labels were already taking away too much money even after iTunes takes their cut.

Eminem’s record company is seeking about $1.3 million to settle the lawsuit. The main defendant in this case is Aftermath Records, the label founded by Eminem’s friend and mentor Dr. Dre. One of Eminem’s singles from his upcoming album broke a digital download record. Eminem’s “Crack a Bottle” featured Dr. Dre and Eminem and had about 418,000 download sales in the first week.

[via The Wrap]