London court gives Wailer ‘positive vibration’
LONDON’S High Court on Friday gave long-time Bob Marley and the Wailers bass guitarist, Aston “Family Man” Barrett, the nod to sue Universal-Island Records Ltd and Island Def Jam Music Group for royalties that could amount to millions of pounds.
Barrett is claiming that he and the estate of his late brother, Wailers drummer Carlton Barrett, have not been paid royalties due to them under two recording agreements allegedly made in the 1970s.
Both record companies had asked the judge to strike out the claim, arguing that it was an abuse of process of the courts. They also said that the claim had no real chance of success, given a 1994 agreement in which they claim to have paid Barrett several hundred thousand US dollars, settling all legal differences between them.
But the judge rejected the companies’ arguments, saying that the issues were “far too complex and numerous” for him to strike out the claims at this stage before a full trial.
He said his decision was backed by the fact that the strike-out application hearing lasted four days, and was filled with detailed arguments on the facts and the law.
According to Barrett, he and his brother, along with other members of the world famous Wailers band, entered into partnerships with Marley, at various times, on the basis that profits would be shared equally between them.
Barrett claims further that in 1974 and 1975 Marley entered into recording agreements with them as their agent, but Island and its parent Universal Music Group have not accounted to them for any share of the royalties they are due on the albums made under those agreements.
He listed the albums as Kaya, Rastaman Vibration, Natty Dread, Babylon By Bus, Exodus, Survival, Live!, Uprising, and Confrontation.
Marley, easily the biggest recording star ever to emerge from Jamaica, died in 1981 at age 36. Since his death, a number of legal battles have been fought over his estate, as well as royalties from his music.
Barrett, who is still a member of the Wailers, is also demanding further payments from six of the band’s songs that he says were written either by him or his brother.
