Amid a bitter contract dispute, Four Tet has accused the Domino Recording Company of removing three of his albums from streaming platforms to prevent his lawsuit from progressing any further.
“This is heartbreaking to me,” Four Tet tweeted. “People are reaching out asking why they can’t stream the music and I’m sad to have to say that it’s out of my control.”
“I considered the people who ran Domino to be my friends and to be driven by trying to create a great musical community,” he added. “As a result Domino own 3 of my albums forever. Music I created that’s important to me and to many of you too.”
Late this summer, Four Tet sued Domino for a massive discrepancy in their agreed-upon streaming royalty rate. The contract Four Tet signed with Domino back in 2001 resulted in the release of his albums Pause, Rounds, and Everything Ecstatic. He claims that he’s entitled to 50% of the streaming royalties for these albums but only received 18% from Domino.
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Domino reportedly did acknowledge that they have paid the rate of 18% and pointed to another clause in the contract where they’re only obligated to pay 75% of their standard 18% (a net payout of 13.5%).
“In respect of records sold in new technology formats other than vinyl, compact discs and analogue tape cassettes the royalty rate shall be 75% of the otherwise applicable rate,” reads the contract, according to Music Week.
The dispute will be tried by a judge in the Business and Property Courts of the High Court of Justice on January 18th, 2022. Four Tet is seeking damages of £70,000 and a streaming royalty rate of 50%.
