Spicy Lawsuit
One of my favorite TV commercials ever was Geico’s ad for the 2015 Super Bowl. It featured Salt-N-Pepa, a rap sensation from the 1980s and ‘90s, performing their hit “Push It.” The spot opens with a man unsuccessfully trying to pull open a door until the group tells him to “push it.” They then proceed to instruct other people to push various things.
Ironically, the song that launched Salt-N-Pepa into superstardom was the B-side of another single. The group thought the song, which was recorded in a bathroom, was cheesy and they hated it. It went on to sell more than a million copies, hit No. 19 on the Billboard Pop charts, and earned them a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Performance.
Salt-N-Pepa were the first all-female rap act to go platinum and receive a Grammy award. This year, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical influence category. They fought hard in a male-dominated industry to be pioneers in hip-hop.
Now they’re fighting for the rights to their music.
Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton have sued Universal Music Group in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to regain control over their master recordings. “When you’re an artist, in the beginning, you sign a contract saying that the copyrights will revert back to you after 35 years,” James told ABC. “And we’ve done all the things legally to get our copyrights back. But they’re just refusing, so we had to sue them.”
James is citing a clause in the U.S. Copyright Act which allows artists who have transferred their copyright to another party to reclaim it after 35 years. “It’s the law,” Denton added. “That’s what it really boils down to. It’s the law.”
In 2022, the pair filed termination notices to end UMG’s ownership of their early recordings. The lawsuit, however, asserts that UMG views the termination notices are not valid because Salt-N-Pepa’s songs were “works made for hire,” so the duo cannot reclaim the rights. The label filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that Salt-N-Pepa cannot exercise their “termination rights” because they were not the ones who signed the relevant contract.
“UMG appears to take the position that it can unilaterally decide when and/or if a recording artist is entitled to termination. This is not the law, and UMG does not have this power,” the lawsuit reads. James elaborated, saying, “We didn’t have that leverage. We didn’t have that knowledge. We didn’t have that control in the ‘80s. And so, to be held to a contract from 1985, and 40 years later, it’s, like, ridiculous.”
Adding insult to injury, Salt-N-Pepa are alleging that UMG retaliated against them by removing their music from streaming services. The group’s first two albums, 1986’s Hot, Cool & Vicious and 1988’s A Salt With a Deadly Pepa, were removed from streaming services between May and July 2024, which Denton and James insist was a “punitive measure.”
They claim the company “indicated that it will hold plaintiffs’ rights hostage even if it means tanking the value of plaintiffs’ music catalogue and depriving their fans of access to their work.” They contend they’ve lost out on “substantial royalties” when the catalogue was offline.
Denton and James are seeking financial damages and an injunction against UMG for infringing on their copyright.
When UMG attempted to settle the dispute, Salt-N-Pepa purportedly told them to Push It.
Reg P. Wydeven
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