Tame Impala Royalties Case Dismissed as Court Rules in Favour of Modular's Steve Pavlovic

BY Alex HudsonPublished Oct 6, 2015

Earlier this year, Aussie label Modular Recordings was tied up in a pair of legal cases, one regarding unpaid royalties allegedly owed to Tame Impala and the other regarding label founder Steve "Pav" Pavlovic losing control of the company to Universal. Now, decisions have been reached, and both cases have gone in favour of Pavlovic.

Various reports indicate that rights management company BMG's allegations that Modular owed Tame Impala hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid royalties is set to be dismissed by the Southern District Court of New York.

"I'm pleased that the misunderstanding about the U.S. statutory rate for calculation of mechanical royalties has been resolved in the commercial manner always intended by the parties," Pavlovic said in a statement. "I'm deeply sorry for any upset caused to Tame Impala given that I've always been a staunch supporter and fan of the band; and to BMG given the relationship we've always enjoyed with them."

Meanwhile, the NSW Court of Appeal has ruled that Pavlovic never reached a binding agreement to sign over Modular to Universal, meaning that he is able to retain his stake in the company.

He wrote on Facebook, "After 12 months of litigation, a waste of time, a waste of energy, a waste of money and a shit ton of stress the NSW court of Appeal just ruled in my favour and blocked Universal Music from taking my 50% shareholding in Modular Recordings."

Now that he's fully in control of Modular once again, Pavlovic is apparently planning to release new albums from various bands, including the Avalanches. Given that the Avalanches haven't released an album since 2000's iconic Since I Left You, we'll believe it when we see it.

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