Sean Combs, David Bowie, Gloria Estefan, Dolly Parton and thousands of lesser-known artists will get nearly $50 million in unclaimed royalties from the country’s largest recording companies, who agreed to work harder to track down musicians to whom money is owed, the state attorney general said yesterday.
The settlement was the result of a two-year investigation by state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer into why some artists were not being paid royalties by the record companies, who already have doled out $25 million in payments since the probe began. Another $25 million is expected to be paid out, and the companies have agreed to post on their Web sites names of artists who are owed money. They will also place ads in major industry publications and work with industry groups, unions and each other to locate artists whose contact information is not up to date.
Read the full article from Newsday.
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