Garbage lawsuit is garbage, says Universal

The Garbage lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) is garbage, according to a spokesperson for the company. “The case is meritless,” the spokesperson told LAUNCH. No other comments on specifics of the suit were offered.

Members of Garbage filed suit against UMG and its affiliated labels in California Superior Court on Monday (January 29) in an effort to end their relationship with the largest record company in the world. The band charges UMG with holding the band’s frontwoman, Shirley Manson, for “ransom,” and for “wrongful, monopolistic, and strong-arm tactics” in order to keep the multiplatinum band on its roster.

According to court documents, Garbage, signed to the UMG label Almo Sounds, is claiming an out-clause because the man who brought them to the label, Almo Records chairman Jerry Moss, retired after UMG folded Almo’s assets into the parent company. UMG has countered that Moss is still on the payroll.

Also integral to Monday’s filing is a seven-year-old contract Manson has with UMG subsidiary Radioactive Records. Manson released one poor-selling album in 1993 for the label with her previous band, Angelfish, but the arrangement fell idle once Manson joined Garbage. The filing alleges that Radioactive “never sought to enforce” the agreement and that UMG now “claims that it can force Garbage to contract with a UMG label by threatening to seek enforcement of the Radioactive Agreement.

“By doing so,” the suit reads, “UMG is effectively holding Shirley Manson as ransom for the band’s continued performance for UMG against their will and without the benefit of Mr. Moss and an independent record label.”