Yoakam s lawsuit was filed Feb 9 against Warner Music Group Corp., Warner Records, and Rhino Entertainment claiming that his multiple requests to reclaim his ownership rights to songs on
Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., as well as their corresponding music videos, have either been denied or ignored. The artist s legal team argued that his basic right to recapture his copyrights granted by the Copyright Act of 1976 is being obstructed by Warner, a corporation that has already made millions of dollars off the works of Mr. Yoakam.
Rhino pulled
Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. off streaming services on Jan. 31, according to Yoakam s original lawsuit. Honky Tonk Man” is, however, still available to stream as part of the soundtrack of Ken Burns’
Lester Cohen/Getty Images for Universal Music Group
Lucian Grainge and Billie Eilish attend the Universal Music Group s 2020 Grammy after party presented by Lenovo at Rolling Greens Nursery on Jan. 26, 2020 in Los Angeles.
Downloads dropped 3.6%, physical fell 6.5%, licensing and other revenue tanked 10.8% but 15.3% streaming growth boosted the company 3.8% in the pandemic year.
Even in a nearly year-long economic downturn, the Universal Music Group juggernaut posted a 3.8% increase in 2020, finishing the year with 7.43 billion euros ($8.4 billion) in revenue up 3.8% from 7.16 billion euros ($8.04 billion) in the prior year.
Even more impressive, UMG grew operating margin by more than two percentage points as the company posted 1.38 billion euros ($1.56 billion) an increase of 17.8% over 2019’s operating income of 1.17 billion euros ($1.31 billion). As a percentage of revenue, that translates into an operating margin of 18.5% in 2020, compared to 16.3% in 2019.