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Backstreet Boys sue label for $75M
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Backstreet Boys are suing their record label for what they allege was an effort to break up the platinum-selling pop group and delay paying them. The band filed a $75 million dollar lawsuit Monday against Zomba Recording Corp., the company that operates Jive Records, also home to 'N Sync and Britney Spears. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, claims Zomba held up release of the band's fourth album to delay paying the group a $5 million advance. The album was scheduled for release in April 2002. The five-member pop group also alleges that as a result of not having a new album to promote, they lost millions of dollars in revenue that could have come from a tour. "We are committed to the Backstreet Boys, and we will protect our group from anybody or anything that tries to break us apart," band members Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough and A.J. McLean said in a joint statement issued to CNN. "We are disappointed that our longtime label, Jive Records, has attempted to irresponsibly exploit our group. The five of us are writing for our new CD and setting concert dates for our upcoming worldwide summer tour." The band's publicist, Larry Salters, told CNN the lawsuit claims the label used contractual loopholes to prevent the band from making the April due date and receiving the advance for what would have been the follow-up to 2000's Black and Blue. The Backstreet Boys' contract states that the label has to approve the songs and producers used before the group can issue an album. The Backstreet Boys maintain that Zomba refused to participate in the decision-making process surrounding the album, causing the delay. In another contractual stipulation, all five members of the Backstreet Boys must be involved in the recording of the album for the band to collect an advance. In the suit, the Backstreet Boys maintain that Zomba used that clause as a loophole, while the label engaged Nick Carter in the work and promotion for a solo album. The group charges that the label demanded Carter's solo release, Now or Never, take precedence over the Backstreet album. That prevented Carter from fulfilling his own contractual obligation to the band. The band also charges Zomba with using the Backstreet Boys' name to promote Carter's album, citing the advertisements posted on www.backstreetboys.com. Carter is a full participant in the lawsuit against the record company. CNN calls to Zomba have not been returned, because the company closed early Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday. A Zomba spokeswoman told The Associated Press the company has a policy not to comment on litigation. In related news, Bertelsmann Entertainment Group announced Tuesday on its BMG Web site that BMG music division had purchased Zomba. The $2.74 billion deal now links Zomba to Arista, J Records and RCA.
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