A live performance from Iggy Azalea, who says Universal Music has failed to cough up due royalties ‘in the 8 figure range.’ Photo Credit: Laura Murray
Has Universal Music Group (UMG) failed to pay “millions of dollars” in due royalties to Iggy Azalea? The Australian artist certainly believes so, and she’s threatening legal action against the “scummiest company” as a result.
Right now, this public callout is taking the form of rapid-fire social posts – not, like in the case of Limp Bizkit’s unpaid-royalties allegations, an actual lawsuit.
But if Azalea’s firmly worded criticism is any indication, that will change in the not-so-distant future. “I can and I will be taking this to court,” the Sydney native spelled out on X.
Closer to the present, the 34-year-old (who signed with Island Def Jam back in 2013) is adamant that UMG owes her a payment “in the 8 figure range.” And that’s because the leading label has allegedly decided not to pay Azalea “a single royalty…for anything outside of the USA.”
As the “Fancy” act tells the story, the royalties showdown, purportedly complete with an in-depth audit and considerable back-and-forth, has been ongoing “between myself and them (privately) for over two years and counting.”
Also according to the “retired” artist, she opted to take her qualms to social media after UMG allegedly “tried to respond to my lawyer and offer me a settlement of 18k.”
“But I’d like to publicly say that I think universal music are criminals who actively take advantage of ALL of their artists in perpetuity for their own gain,” Azalea’s far-from-subtle message proceeds.
“They are the scummiest company and they do this to SO MANY artists who unfortunately can’t afford to fight for what they’re owed thus they get away with this behavior,” the relevant text continues.
Absent from Azalea’s comments is concrete proof of UMG’s alleged failure to cough up the royalties.
The main tweet-blast does, however, include what appears to be a screenshot of a text-message conversation between Azalea and one of her team concerning the situation and the underlying audit.
Meanwhile, in a separate X post yet, Azalea claimed UMG higher-ups “bank on hiding it [royalty underpayments] and thinking the artist will never be able to pay for forensic accounting to happen.”
“And then they do games like this outside of court and try and settle for two mangos and a loaf of bread assuming they [artists] can’t afford to fight in court,” wrote Azalea, who in November 2022 announced an “eight-figure” Domain Capital catalog deal.
“Thankfully I’m well off and can and will pursue this issue until they pay me what they owe,” the four-time Grammy nominee added for good measure.
In late January, a federal judge partially dismissed Limp Bizkit’s aforementioned royalties lawsuit against Universal Music. Then, the group in February fired off an amended action, spanning 120 pages and introducing a number of allegations against former Geffen president (and Flip Records founder) Jordan Schur.
UMG in a dismissal motion criticized the plaintiffs for allegedly “fundamentally” changing their story. As currently scheduled, a hearing on the push to toss the case will take place next Monday, March 24th.
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