A 2010 ruling by the 9th Circuit Court granting Eminem and F.B.T. Productions half of the royalties of digital downloads will likely stand after the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Universal Music Group Monday.
Since their introduction, major record labels have typically given artists an 18-23% royalty split of all of digital downloads. In 2004, The Bass Brothers, collectively known as F.B.T. Productions, filed a suit against Aftermath Records and Universal Music Group. The lawsuit called for an increased royalty share of the alleged $2.5 million Eminem’s digital downloads made between 2003 and 2008. Universal appealed the 9th Circuit court’s ruling in September of 2010 and lost, which gave them the option of taking the matter to the Supreme Court.
F.B.T. discovered Eminem in 1995 before prior to him signing in 1998 with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath imprint. They are either partially or fully credited with production on roughly 15 Eminem songs including “97 Bonnie & Clyde,” “Kim” and “Just Don’t Give A Fuck.”
