The estates of Jimi Hendrix’s former bandmates, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, are suing Sony over a streaming rights dispute.
The case against Sony Music Entertainment UK (SMEUK) has been taken to the UK’s High Court by the estates of the bass player and drummer who, alongside Hendrix, made up the Experience. Disputes revolve around the copyright and performers’ rights for their part in three iconic records – Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland.
The pair is being represented by the copyright and trademark specialist Simon Malynicz KC. Speaking on Tuesday, December 9th, he said the band was “one of the most commercially successful acts of its era,” believing that the two musicians were excluded from revenue early on in their lives.
He says they "died in relative poverty", while finances earned from streaming – All Along the Watchtower and Purple Haze have a combined 1.2 billion streams on Spotify alone at the time of writing – went to SMEUK (as per the Independent).
He also argued that since their passing – Redding died in 2003, Mitchell in 2008 – the successors of their estates have also been excluded from the revenue. Typically, they would be entitled to a cut via inheritable property rights, meaning they would be able to recoup revenue after their deaths.
The allegations point towards the administrators of Hendrix’s estate. Malynicz alleges that a major multinational “yet again… refuses to recognise or remunerate their copyright and performers’ rights.”
There are various types of copyright involved with albums, and here, Malynicz is focusing on the copyright related to the recording. The lawyer has urged the court to “ensure not only that justice is done to the memory of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, but... also give effect to James Marshall Hendrix’s wishes.”
“For surely,” he adds, “he would have wanted his fellow musicians to receive everything to which they are entitled.”
On the other hand, SMEUK lawyer Robert Howe KC alleges that the copyright belongs to the producers of those albums, which includes Chas Chandler and Hendrix himself, rather than the musicians involved in its recording.
Furthermore, Howe argues that the predecessors of their respective estates relinquished their rights to the songs. To that end, he pointed to payments of $100,000 and $247,500 made to each member, respectively, in the 1970s, meaning they would receive no share of further revenue.
The trial is expected to conclude on 18 December, and a written judgment will be made at a later date.
