Salt-N-Pepa Sue to Reclaim Rights to Their Music

Revolutionary hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa is suing their record label, alleging they were "maliciously punished for daring to assert their rights" to their music. Under the US Copyright Act, artists can reclaim control of their music rights after 35 years, even if they had signed away those rights. Salt-N-Pepa say they notified Universal Music Group that they planned to do so in 2022. But in a lawsuit filed Monday in New York federal court, members Cheryl "Salt" James and Sandra "Pepa" Denton (excluding later member DJ Spinderella) say UMG rejected the notices, then pulled the group's songs—including "Push It," "Shoop," "Whatta Man," and "Let's Talk About Sex"—from major streaming platforms in a "stunning act of retaliation," per Rolling Stone.

"UMG has pulled their songs from all major platforms in the US, punishing them for asserting those rights and silencing decades of culture-shifting work," a legal representative says, per People. James and Denton, who will become only the second female hip-hop act to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November, argue UMG has prevented them from profiting off their own catalog while wrongfully claiming control of the property. Indeed, "UMG has indicated that it will hold Plaintiffs' rights hostage even if it means tanking the value of Plaintiffs' music catalogue and depriving their fans of access to their work," the lawsuit reads, per Rolling Stone.

The lawsuit states 1988's A Salt With a Deadly Pepa and 1986's Hot, Cool & Vicious qualified for termination of copyright in 2024, while 1990's A Blitz of Salt-N-Pepa Hits, Blacks' Magic, and 1993's Very Necessary are up for termination of copyright this year. But in a 2022 letter, UMG's legal team claimed "UMG's copyright ownership interest in the Sound Recordings is not subject to termination." According to the Independent, the label claims James and Denton weren't parties to the 1986 agreement covering their initial albums and did not grant copyright to now be reclaimed. Instead, it claims the recordings were "works made for hire." The duo is seeking damages that could "well exceed $1 million" in addition to the copyright to their original recordings, legal reps say. (More Salt N Pepa stories.)