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OMG: Shep Pettibone is taking legal action against WB Music

Luiz Ribeiro

By Luiz Ribeiro,
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Luiz Ribeiro

Luiz Ribeiro 6,167

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On April 10 2017, TMZ reported that Shep Pettibone is taking legal action against WB Music Corp. for withholding his royalties (since 2012) for Madonna’s hit single, Vogue.


Here’s what TMZ reported:


The famed producer behind Madonna’s Vogue says he’s getting the short end of the stick — to the tune of half a million bucks — because the record label’s out for payback.


Shep Pettibone, producer extraordinaire — who’s worked with Madge, Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul and a ton of other artists — says WB Music Corp owes him a ton of back royalties for the 1990 mega hit.


It appears everything was fine up until 2012 … when Shep and WB were sued for allegedly jacking Vogue from someone else. In his lawsuit, Shep says they both came out victorious in that case, but the label spent a ton on lawyers — more than $700k, according to docs.


The mega producer says WB’s been withholding royalties since then to cover that massive legal bill. Translation: we forked out the dough to defend your song … now you owe us.


Shep ain’t buyin’ that theory though, and says his contract with the label doesn’t give them the right to hold back his Vogue dollars.


He believes he’s been screwed out of as much as $500k, and wants a judge to force WB Music to hand over the loot.


 


Source: 


 


https://todayinmadonnahistory.com/


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Guest ArthurBadin

Guest ArthurBadin

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He should take his revenge and release some Madonna material!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After his own statement about leaks (or it was Shimkin's? Maybe the two told the same), I wouldn't take it for sure.

"What a shame Shame wasn't released!" I full agree with him. Born This Way avant la lettre as if Express Yourself weren't enough.

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survivalartist

survivalartist 6,529

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Good for him! I am so glad Madonna jumped ship from Warner/Access Industries. Now it's just a royalties investment mess for some rich fella to bank off off, but Shep won that challenge to his art and should get what he deserves for it if Warner/Access can afford it. Maybe they can't? Would it be a hoot if Shep was the one to put WMG out? This is five years worth of royalties now, poor fella.

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Luiz Ribeiro

Luiz Ribeiro 6,167

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Neither are bad. You don't need a label any more to distribute music. Her chart failure has nothing to do with her label. We need to acknowledge this. Look at Kylie she's had more labels then I've had lovers ;)

 

I Disagree

 

If the label does not invest in promotion, does not pay for TV shows, does not invest in radios, does not pay promo tours, it gets more complicated.

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Fighter

Fighter 28,803

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Neither are bad. You don't need a label any more to distribute music. Her chart failure has nothing to do with her label. We need to acknowledge this. Look at Kylie she's had more labels then I've had lovers ;)

 

 

why do you think "neither are bad"?

 

I'm talking about the poor releases and lack of overall support mostly. She still does well, but I feel things would be much better if record companies didn't suck in general in this new digital era 

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wtg1987

wtg1987 10,217

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She doesnt have enough popularity to have "hit" records anymore - its obvious ? The majority of people paying for music are generally not her demographic anymore - she promoted the hell out of rebel heart and it still didn't help the sales of the album (GHosttown - if had been released by someone like taylor swift or sia would have been a much bigger hit - regardless of her record company - thats probably why warner were glad to get rid of her unfortunately

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Jackie

Jackie 8,131

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She doesnt have enough popularity to have "hit" records anymore - its obvious ? The majority of people paying for music are generally not her demographic anymore - she promoted the hell out of rebel heart and it still didn't help the sales of the album (GHosttown - if had been released by someone like taylor swift or sia would have been a much bigger hit - regardless of her record company - thats probably why warner were glad to get rid of her unfortunately

Exactly!

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Jackie

Jackie 8,131

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why do you think "neither are bad"?

 

I'm talking about the poor releases and lack of overall support mostly. She still does well, but I feel things would be much better if record companies didn't suck in general in this new digital era

They promoted the shit outta rebel heart, but in my opinion in an ineffective way. What needs to be done is smarter advertising using "push adverts", targeting advertising, utilising Facebook and other social media algorithms to promote. Similar to what Trumps peeps did.

 

It was interesting also, the choice of TV show, although she did Ellen for the week, her performance on Jimmy Falon had a bigger impact on album sales...

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Fighter

Fighter 28,803

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They promoted the shit outta rebel heart, but in my opinion in an ineffective way. What needs to be done is smarter advertising using "push adverts", targeting advertising, utilising Facebook and other social media algorithms to promote. Similar to what Trumps peeps did.

 

It was interesting also, the choice of TV show, although she did Ellen for the week, her performance on Jimmy Falon had a bigger impact on album sales...

 

 

Oh ok I agree with you that tactics around her releases are weak.

 

What she needs is interesting creative QUICK impact rather than long drawn out promotional campaigns. Bitch I'm Madonna had more impact than anything else she did during the Rebel Heart era because it was unexpected, fun, creative. Everything should be that way.

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survivalartist

survivalartist 6,529

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It is a whole different ballgame now for Madonna, major media companies, and consumers. To compare and/or hope for record breaking physical sales is impossible. To compete for "eyeballs" on the Internet with porn, teen girls, rappers in fast & furious cars, and cat videos is impossible. To hope for radio impact in the age of corporate controlled automated playlists of autotune perfection made by brilliant computer programmers designed for that memorable 5 seconds versus an insightful lyric and a complex musical background involving a team of trained musicians is impossible. When was the last time any artist had a KTU on air listening party? Even in the age of the Internet when people don't need to "tape" songs off the radio and can literally pirate new stuff in minutes.

 

There are more "younger" people alive than ever and if you look at music sales as a whole none of them are buying it. Some are devoted to a certain niche, like us Madonna fans, and will buy the music but sadly music has become secondary to visual stimulation in modern times.

 

I think it's impressive as hell that she stays as public as she does and I love the fuck outta her for it. Isn't it reasonable to think that Madonna is more wealthy now than some of her late record label bosses were in the early days but that she and Guy turned Maverick into more of a media consultation group than a hub for musicians as it was initially intended? The money is in the face anymore and it sucks but she continues to give good face. Even her "makeup free" short Insta video was on the TV TMZish chat shows and news feeds that day. She is, basically since ROL, a touring artist and she made a great decision to leave WB nonsense for something more conducive to touring/winning.

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Fighter

Fighter 28,803

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There are more "younger" people alive than ever and if you look at music sales as a whole none of them are buying it. Some are devoted to a certain niche, like us Madonna fans, and will buy the music but sadly music has become secondary to visual stimulation in modern times.

 

What should people buy though?. The pop world is pretty bad these days, not even a shadow of what it once was. I used to buy several albums a year and now i buy one or two every 2 years or so. Executives value cheap marketing over anything creative because a changing industry made them scared of investing on creativity long term. Therefore it's a dying industry. Everyone jumped ship from art to trendy trashy entertainment (which I enjoy but I won't fork out cash for). Nothing wrong with big marketing though, but you better have something amazing if you think you can force feed it to people with good results. In Madonna's case there's a lack of effort and quality in some aspects which is puzzling, although RH was musically good, it's not enough to convince the pop audience to give her a chance again. Thankfully lately her team they started listening to fans more which I appreciate.  :thinker: But yeah Id like to see some polishing of the details that would make her fans way more happy and the pop audiences pay attention. It's not that hard imho.

 

I feel like with Rebel Heart while she did her homework, her team/record company left her hanging.

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