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Drake’s not the only artist who’s unhappy with Universal Music Group right now. Iggy Azalea, real name Amethyst Amelia Kelly, claims that the company stiffed her on “millions of dollars in back pay,” and recently offered her an $18,000 settlement instead of the amount “in the 8 figure range” that she says she is owed. “I’m told this is a normal response from their lawyers and after appearing in court they end up paying millions as they’re supposed to,” she wrote on X on Saturday. “Thankfully I’m well off and can and will pursue this issue until they pay me what they owe.” The rapper behind hits like “Fancy” and “Black Widow” was more blunt in a follow-up post, declaring, “Universal music mark my words you ugly bitch – You will pay me what’s owed.”
Azalea, who signed with UMG label Def Jam in 2013 and moved to fellow UMG label Island Records before announcing her departure in 2018, claims that the company never paid her royalties “for anything outside of” the United States. She alleged that “criminals” at UMG take advantage of other artists who can’t afford to fight to be paid in full, and called for the company to do better. According to Azalea, her dispute with the company has been happening privately for more than two years. UMG did not immediately respond to Vulture’s request for comment.
Azalea isn’t the first person to side-eye UMG’s royalties system. Last year, Limp Bizkit sued UMG over allegations that the band had “not seen a dime in royalties,” claiming that the company had designed a software system that “systematically prevented artists from being paid their royalties.” At the time, a UMG exec told The Hollywood Reporter that there had been “one-off mistake” due to new software; the band was subsequently paid $1 million in back royalties, and a label owned by lead singer Fred Durst received $2.3 million for a deal made in 1999. An agent for UMG claimed that the company had only recently begun paying out royalties because Limp Bizkit had gotten $43 million in advances. (Limp Bizkit suggested that figure was actually closer to $13 million.) In January, Billboard characterized a judge’s ruling that Limp Bizkit cannot void its contracts with UMG as a setback for the band’s lawsuit, although attorneys for the band said in a statement that the court “upheld a majority of our claims” and affirmed that Universal “will be held accountable for its actions.” It remains to be seen whether Azalea will end up also taking her complaints to court.
Iggy Azalea Says UMG ‘Criminals’ Owe Her Millions of Dollars
