Alright, so last week we posted about Decapitated's lawsuit against Earache for allegedly unpaid royalties for its first four records. The label quickly fired back, stating that "this issue was dealt with by the courts in the UK back in November, categorically in Earache’s favour, so this a non-story in reality," and that the Decapitated is only continuing with its "garbage" lawsuit is because "they feel wronged by the court decision, which by the way, was instigated by the band."
None of us were there and none of us are lawyers, so we can't definitively say which party is right in this instance. Now Decapitated is firing back in a statement given to MetalSucks, saying that Earache still owes them money and that the case never went to court.
The only thing that is garbage is the terrible failure by Earache to properly account, pay royalties and to have left us in a position where we need to pursue legal action in order to enforce our rights.
In reply to Earache’s statement – there was no court case – what actually happened is that we served Earache with a formal request for payment of what we believed to be due. Hoping to settle the matter with Earache without going to court, we agreed to withdraw the demand. The court decided nothing and did not even consider the claims. Predictably, and despite Earache’s undertaking to do so within 28 days in September last year, we’re still waiting! So we are now raising funds to instruct a lawyer to pursue our claims.
The band also says that its limited edition shirts being sold to fund the lawsuit were taken down because of Earache's demands, though if the label really does own the rights to the Organic Hallucinosis artwork, then there's not shit the band can do about it.
You might have also noticed that we’ve withdrawn the limited edition t-shirt/tops that we planned to sell to help us raise funds for the case. This is because Earache immediately sent us a cease and desist letter to stop us using the artwork on them, despite us having the blessing and support of the original artist who created the “Organic Hallucinosis” album cover. If only they would act as quickly for serious matters. It’s disappointing, but unfortunately not surprising, that Earache would rather waste time and money being obstructive and uncooperative instead of simply paying their bands what is due (yes, sadly we are not the only band Earache have treated appallingly and/or haven’t paid, but more on that later!) Fear not though, as we will be releasing limited edition tops with new artwork on our website (https://www.musicglue.com/decapitated) soon.
This should be an interesting one to follow because each side's claim is wildly different than the other side. Maybe Earache will fire back with something simple this time, like "well fuck YOU. Y'know, all professional-like.
It's not like this is the first time Decapitated and Earache got into a spat over the band's discography. Remember in 2015 when the band's albums were removed from retailers due to some legal battles?
