Whatta copyright claim! Taylor Swift is not the only musician making moves to gain ownership of their music library. This week's BL Business Branding series dives into a recent lawsuit filed by a groundbreaking rap and hip hop duo alleging that a music giant has failed to return the copyright ownership of some of the group's early musical hits.
Following the early success of their independent music in 1985, Salt-N-Pepa's production company entered into a distribution agreement with Next Plateau Records, Inc. on May 15, 1986, that granted Next Plateau the right to promote and distribute the Salt-N-Pepa's upcoming recordings and albums. The duo (Cheryl "Salt" James and Sandra "Pepa" Denton) rose to fame over the next several years, releasing multiple albums and chart-topping singles to high acclaim. Their careers continued to flourish for several years, resulting in high commercial success, millions of streams, a Grammy win in 1995, and various tracks and albums certified gold and platinum by the RIAA. The duo has remained active in recent years, receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2021, and having an upcoming induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame scheduled for fall of 2025.
As Salt-And-Pepa's stardom rose in public, there were changes on the business side of their operation. In the 1990s and early 2000s, a series of corporate transactions saw Next Plateau Records, Inc.'s discography be acquired by London Records, which was then acquired by Universal Music Group (UMG). James and Denton claim that UMG now holds copyright grants from the duo for their master recordings.
In 2022, James and Denton took action to gain ownership of these copyrights by sending UMG Notices of Termination for their copyright grants under Section 203 of the Copyright Act of 1976, which allows artists to regain the rights to their works from grantees after a certain amount of time has passed, typically 35 years. However, UMG claims that the Notices of Termination it received are invalid because Salt-N-Pepa never owned the copyrights to the master recordings at all. Instead, UMG claims that the recordings were produced as "works for hire" with Next Plateau Records, Inc. and London Records, meaning that those companies always owned the copyrights for the masters, which UMG would have gained ownership of during its acquisition.
Since the denial of the Notices of Termination, James and Denton claim that UMG has removed their "music from streaming platforms and otherwise made it unavailable for commercial exploitation" in retaliation. The duo filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on May 19, 2025, to force UMG to release its hold on the copyrights of Salt-N-Pepa's early master recordings and request payment for damages "believed to well exceed one million dollars." UMG has not filed a response to the lawsuit at the time of this newsletter's publication.
What Can Businesses Learn From This?
Contracts are the key to ownership when it comes to a copyright dispute. In the matter of Salt-N-Pepa vs. UMG, both parties believe they are the true owner of the early Salt-N-Pepa master recordings in question, and the lawsuit will likely be decided by language from the contracts signed back in the 1980s and 1990s. Creatives, and truly any person in business, should thoroughly review their contracts before signing to ensure important information about intellectual property ownership is clearly defined.
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