Dr Dre Wins Lawsuit For 'The Chronic' Against Death Row Records

[woof]

Apr 19, 9:57 PM EDT

Judge: No right to sell 'The Chronic' online

By ANTHONY McCARTNEY
AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The new incarnation of Death Row Records does not have the rights to sell Dr. Dre's iconic rap album "The Chronic" digitally, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder ruling states that the rapper and producer has received far less money than he is due from online sales of the 1992 album, which also helped launch the career of Snoop Dogg.

The ruling does not call for a halt of digital sales of Dre's music, but entitles him to receive 100 percent of the proceeds of online sales, his attorney, Howard King, told The Associated Press.

The rapper, whose real name is Andre Young, sued WIDEawke Death Row Records last year, claiming it was improperly selling "The Chronic" digitally and using some of his music on compilation albums without his permission.

Snyder's ruling states the label, which bought the original Death Row Records' holdings out of bankruptcy, does not have the right to put Dr. Dre's music on compilation or any other albums.

"For years, Death Row Records forgot about Dre when they continued to distribute his music digitally and combined his hits with weaker Death Row tracks in an attempt to elevate the stature of their other artists," King wrote in a statement. "We are gratified that the federal court has unambiguously declared that Death Row has no right to engage in such tactics, and must hold all proceeds from these illicit distributions in trust for our client."

Phone and email messages for WIDEawake's attorney, Michael Holtz, was not immediately returned Tuesday evening.

The rapper has a long history of battling Death Row Records, a label he confounded but later left.

The most recent case he filed centered on his 1996 exit agreement with the label, which called for him to receive 18 percent royalties on his music created while at Death Row and gave him substantial authority over how the songs were used.

The agreement states that WIDEawake can only sell Dre's music in the format it appeared in before the deal. Another of Dre's attorneys, Stephen Rothschild, told Snyder during arguments in court on Monday that meant it could only appear in four formats: CD, cassette, vinyl and 8-Track.

[OG Hack Wilson]

fucking greedy ass rich people


enough just isn't enough

[LIL_TODD]

I never understood why dre aint fight to get ownership of death row after they took it from suge.

[GangstaBoogy]

Yeah its fucked up he sued them. Suge has nothing to do with wide awake so its pointless to sue them.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

fucking greedy ass rich people


enough just isn't enough

Why is Dre "greedy" for wanting money that he is entitled to from someone else releasing his music?  They bought the catalogue, but that doesn't mean that all of the proceeds are theirs to keep without owing any royalties to the person whose music it is.

[sms130]

Well, he has some of that Death Row money coming in finally.

[dameons]

Wow ....So he'll get some money from the 500 digital downloads Wideawake has sold ....Big whoop .

[k-dogg]

Anybody posting about how "Dre should not have sued" is just ignorant, probably broke as fuck and knows nothing about business, especially the music business. I guess that is why Dre keep gettin paid while we are here postin..Dont' matter how long it took, Dre still gettin paid.

[Jimmy H.]

Yeah its fucked up he sued them. Suge has nothing to do with wide awake so its pointless to sue them.

Here's a thought. Maybe it isn't about Suge.

[OG Hack Wilson]

Anybody posting about how "Dre should not have sued" is just ignorant, probably broke as fuck and knows nothing about business, especially the music business. I guess that is why Dre keep gettin paid while we are here postin..Dont' matter how long it took, Dre still gettin paid.

hes suing over 200 internet downloads (if that)

[sofdark]

it's all business

[Sikotic™]

LOL pussy ass Dre was too scared to sue Suge. He waited until he lost ownership.

[MarshColin]

LOL pussy ass Dre was too scared to sue Suge. He waited until he lost ownership.

Even if this was true you'd still be a moron for making a statement like that. Dre sued them when Chronic 2000 was coming out and got all the unreleased tracks with his vocals that they remixed taken off the album.

[Jimmy H.]

Yup. Dre was suing them when Suge still owned the company.

[BiggBoogaBiff]

So i guess EVERYBODY can move on now huh?