Kenny Rogers
has filed a federal lawsuit against Capitol Records alleging the label misled
him and other artists about royalty payments from online music downloads. The suit, filed in Nashville by attorney Richard
Busch, is the latest in a series of similar litigation filed by other artists, including Eminem and Peter Frampton. The lawsuits
claim record labels have deliberately underpaid royalties by defining online transactions as a sale of music, rather than
a license. A sale provides a smaller percentage of income than the 50/50 split usually involved in a license. Rogers' suit
does not cite a specific amount of digital royalties, although it alleges Capitol underpaid him by more than $400,000 because
of accounting errors. For years, Capitol has maintained control over the release of Rogers' biggest hits recorded in the '70s
and '80s on the United Artists and Liberty labels.
