Warner Music Sued Over Royalty Dispute

Yahoo: Third Story Music, an LA based music publishing firm filed a federal suit against Warner Music Group on Tuesday , alleging that singer-songwriter Tom Waits has been shortchanged on the sale of digital downloads. Waits was apparently entitled to higher royalties of either 25% or 50% from revenues derived from third-party licenses and Third Story maintains that royalties from digital music downloads should be included at the higher rate. According to the article, Third Story sent a formal notice in February questioning the accuracy of royalty statements to WMG. The music company replied a month later that "downloads are sold to customers such as iTunes and Listen.com just as physical product is sold to Best Buy and Virgin."