The family of the late Bing Crosby have successfully sued Universal Music for unpaid royalties.
The following statement was posted at bingcrosby.com:After an arduous ten year battle, the heirs of Bing Crosby finally got their day in court. On June 30th, a jury in Santa Monica, California awarded them in excess of 2 million dollars in their lawsuit against Universal Music Group. It's a significant victory for the Crosby family, as well as for all recording artists whose royalties have been underpaid by record labels.
Crosby's daughter Mary commented, 'Recording artists have a long history of being taken advantage of by their labels, and despite the incredible contribution my father made to the world of music, he was no exception. I give my mother a lot of credit for her willingness to hang in there for over a decade. It seems that record companies prefer to keep things in litigation for as long as possible because most people don't have the resources to stick it out. This tactic generally works, because the majority of artists settle out of court for far less than they're due.' Mary was in the courtroom with her mother, Kathryn Crosby, when the verdict was read.
Bing Crosby, who died in 1977, recorded exclusively for Decca Records from August 1934 until December 1955. The Decca catalog was later obtained by MCA Records, which ultimately became part of Universal Music Group. Among Crosby's 1200 recordings for Decca is 'White Christmas', the best selling record of all time. The Guinness Book of World Records reports worldwide sales for Crosby's recording of the song at over 100 million copies. 'White Christmas' has entered the American pop charts twenty separate times. The vast catalog of Bing Crosby's non-Decca recordings is currently being issued through Collectors' Choice Music and Mosaic Records.
Bing Crosby has sold close to one billion records, tapes, compact discs and digital downloads around the world. He may be the biggest selling recording artist of all time. Only The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson can rival his sales figures. Crosby is the most recorded performer in history, having made over 2000 commercial recordings and approximately 4000 radio programs in addition to an extensive list of film and television appearances. He scored 38 number one records – more than The Beatles (24) and Elvis Presley (18). His recordings reached the charts 396 times - more than Frank Sinatra (209) and Elvis Presley (149) combined.
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