A nasty fight over record royalties has the Dixie Chicks ready to run to another label, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday.
Lawyers for Sony Music are trying to get a big-city New York judge to bar the good ol’ girls from Texas from bolting to a competing company.
Sony filed suit in Manhattan federal court yesterday saying the group is trying to break their deal, and want a judge to declare the long-term contract still in effect.
The Chicks have sold more than 15 million albums with hits like “Ready to Run” and “Wide Open Spaces”-but have recently started sparring with Sony over royalties.
Sony claims it has already re-negotiated the band’s deal once, and has paid the three women millions in royalties, and spent millions to promote the band.
Talks broke down last week as the company said the women tried to break the deal based on “entirely trumped-up and baseless claims”- while the band continues to claim they are being short-changed on royalties.
In court papers, Sony claims that if it loses the rights to the next five Dixie Chicks albums, they will lose more than $100 million in revenue.