Kieran Hebden, more famously known by his stage persona Four Tet, has been at the centre of a tense legal battle with his label Domino Records since August. Hebden claims that the label is in breach of contract over its 18% royalty rate. Hebden also believes labels should allow a more “Reasonable” rate of 50% should be given to artists through downloads and streaming.
Hebden is specifically targeting a part of his contract, signed in 2001; well before anyone knew of the prolificity of streaming, that states, “In respect of the exploitation of the Masters and any videos embodying the Masters and received by us from our licensees outside the UK we shall credit your audio and audio-visual royalty accounts respectively with 50 per cent of all royalties and fees arising from such exploitation.”. With Hebden claiming it “will contend that a reasonable royalty rate in respect of revenues derived from exploitation by way of streaming and/or digital download under the implied term of the 2001 Agreement has at all material times been at least 50 per cent; Four Tet’s position as to the precise rate is reserved pending evidence and/or expert evidence on this issue.”.
In short, Hebden believes the total amount of revenue he receives from streaming and downloads (which after a lot of complicated legal jargon ends up being about 13.5%) is unfair. He, and other artists including Radiohead and Marillion, have tried to argue this case before to no avail. Four Tet is seeking damages of up to £70,000 plus costs over the claim for historical streaming and download royalties as well as a legal judgement on the 50 per cent rate.
Today, 3 of the albums released through Domino: Pause (2001), Rounds (2003) and Everything Ecstatic (2005), have been removed from streaming services as a response to Hebden’s aggrievance. He said to fans that this action is “heartbreaking” and “out of [his] control”. The issue is due to be heard in court on January 18th of next year, we may not be able to hear these 3 albums through streaming until then.
I’m so upset to see that @Dominorecordco have removed the 3 albums of mine they own from digital and streaming services. This is heartbreaking to me. People are reaching out asking why they can’t stream the music and I’m sad to have to say that it’s out of my control.
— Four Tet (@FourTet) November 21, 2021
He later added, “I signed with Domino over 20 years ago, in a different time before streaming and downloads were something we thought about.”
Earlier this week Domino’s legal representative said they would remove my music from all digital services in order to stop the case progressing. I did not agree to them taking this action and I’m truly shocked that it has come to this.
— Four Tet (@FourTet) November 21, 2021
This conversation has been brought to light a lot recently, as regulators, industry figures and the government continue to scrutinise the streaming royalty process for artists as part of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Commons Select Committee’s inquiry into the matter. Last month, the DCMS called for new legislation that “enshrines in law [artists’] rights to a fair share of the earnings” to address the inequality in payments received by artists.
