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Dixie Chicks Hatch Sony Settlement
Less than a year after hatching a vicious legal battle against Sony and accusing the label of swindling them out of millions of dollars, the country trio announced Monday they have settled their lawsuit and will release their long-awaited new album late this summer.
The new disc, titled Home, will hit stores August 27 and will be the first release on Open Wide Records, a new label jointly created by the Chicks and Sony. The label is just one of the goodies included in the group's whopping $20 million recording deal with Sony, the Los Angeles Times reports.
"We are very proud of the music on Home. We recorded it as a labor of love during our time off and are thrilled it has come together as an album that we think is our best yet," the group said in a statement.
"We are equally excited to get the music out to our fans," they added. "Our reconciliation with Sony Music couldn't have come at a better time."
It's a long way from all the clucking that went on last year when both Sony and the Dixie Chicks sued each other. The threesome (Emily Robison, Natalie Maines Pasdar and Martie Seidel) sent Sony a letter last July announcing they would no longer record for the company, prompting Sony to file a lawsuit accusing the Chicks of making "sham" claims about being underpaid and seeking damages for five undelivered albums.
The Chicks promptly fired back with their own lawsuit, claiming Sony was engaged in "systematic thievery," using "fraudulent accounting gimmicks" to underreport royalties and overcharge for services. The band even hired its own accountants, who combed through Sony's financial records and reported that the label cheated the group out of some $4 million.
"We refuse to sit back and silently endorse this behavior simply because this is a 'standard' practice at Sony," the Chicks said at the time. "This is about people keeping their word."
The multiplatinum-selling Dixie Chicks were just one of many artists to rally in support of the growing artists-rights movement, lobbying legislators and calling for changes in the way labels sign and pay their acts.
But like many who set out to battle their record labels, it's often easier to take a fat settlement than continue a costly and lengthy court battle against a corporate giant. Don Henley, Luther Vandross, Beck and Metallica have all once threatened legal action, only to settle out of court.
Former Hole rocker Courtney Love hasn't settled her lawsuit against Universal Music Group. But even that case may end with a deal: Her trial has been postponed from tomorrow to August 20, after a judge ordered both sides to sit down for settlement talks.
The Dixie Chicks reportedly shopped around for a new label, talking to both EMI and BMG about a deal. But in April, the Times reports that they returned to the negotiating table with Sony.
The lucrative contract isn't unexpected for a group like the Dixie Chicks, who have sold nearly 20 million albums since 1997 and earned Grammys for both their 1998 debut Wide Open Spaces and their 1999 follow-up, Fly.
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