Salt-N-Pepa Sue Universal Music to Enforce Termination Right (1)

Groundbreaking female rap and hip hop duo Salt-N-Pepa sued Universal Music Group, accusing it of “inexplicably” refusing to honor their right to reclaim their copyrights and punishing them by removing their music from streaming platforms.

UMG Recordings Inc. falsely claimed their songs constituted works-for-hire and therefore can’t be clawed back, Cheryl James and Sandra Denton—the rappers’ legal names—said in a complaint filed Monday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Universal told the rappers a 1986 agreement with their producer, not James and Denton, granted exclusive copyrights to their record label at the time, the ...