Well, it looks like Domino have removed three of Four Tet’s albums amid a high-profile legal battle regarding the royalty rate from their 2001 contract, the first of its kind to enter the High Courts of London.
According to the prolific electronic music producer’s twitter, a legal representative warned him that Domino would remove his music from all digital streaming platforms if legal action were to persist. Two days ago, it appeared that Domino had made good on their promise, removing Pause (28 May 2001), Rounds (5 May 2003), and Everything Ecstatic (23 May 2005) from major streaming platforms.
Here’s how abruptly things progressed:
Four Tet’s Pause is released on Domino. After releases on Output and Warp Records including a remix of Aphex Twin’s “Cliffs” that launched his career, he finally signed with Domino. Signed under a completely different distribution model than the one in which Four Tet’s recordings are consumed today, Spotify on the debuted in 2008 and the iPod later in ’01.
Domino would later become an indie powerhouse and the seventh biggest corporate group in terms of streams across the pond, in part from Arctic Monkeys’ catalogue and their massive AM, which has racked up billions of streams.
After obtaining legal papers filed with the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court of England, British trade paper Music Week reports that Four Tet is suing Domino in a landmark case that could have major implications on streaming law in the UK.
Publicized as the first entity to pursue a DSP royalty with the High Court, Four Tet claims that Domino is liable for breach of contract, which the indie giant rejected.
The claim is regarding the royalty rate both parties allegedly agreed upon contractually. Four Tet is claiming 50% in royalties and £70,000 plus legal costs for historical streaming and downloads. Four Tet’s contract counted an 18% royalty rate for record sales, a far smaller figure without the consideration of album sale equivalents.
The contract includes a crucial clause stating that any recordings under contract licensed outside of the UK will be subjected to a 50% royalty rate. Domino on the other hand refer to a separate clause that states new technology in which CDs, vinyl, and cassettes predate, shall be paid at 75% the standard rate, in this case a measly 13.5%.
Four Tet tweets his grievances that three of his albums released on Domino Records have been removed from streaming:
I’m so upset to see that @Dominorecordco have removed the 3 albums of mine they own from digital and streaming services. This is heartbreaking to me. People are reaching out asking why they can’t stream the music and I’m sad to have to say that it’s out of my control.
I have an ongoing legal dispute with Domino over the rate they pay me for streaming that is due to be heard in court on the 18th of January. It was in the press a little while back:
Earlier this week Domino’s legal representative said they would remove my music from all digital services in order to stop the case progressing. I did not agree to them taking this action and I’m truly shocked that it has come to this.
I signed with Domino over 20 years ago, in a different time before streaming and downloads were something we thought about.
I considered the people who ran Domino to be my friends and to be driven by trying to create a great musical community. As a result Domino own 3 of my albums forever. Music I created that’s important to me and to many of you too.
I believe there is an issue within the music industry on how the money is being shared out in the streaming era and I think its time for artists to be able to ask for a fairer deal.
It’s time to try and make changes where we can. I’m not driven by the money, but I have to make a stand when I am experiencing something that’s simply unfair.
Shout out to everyone out there enjoying my music and supporting the stuff I do!! I hope we can get this music back soon…
There Is Love in You from 2010 is still available as are all of his records for Domino under his legal name Kieran Hebden: The Exchange Session Vol. 1, The Exchange Session Vol. 2, Tongues, and NYC.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I’m so upset to see that <a href="https://twitter.com/Dominorecordco?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Dominorecordco</a> have removed the 3 albums of mine they own from digital and streaming services. This is heartbreaking to me. People are reaching out asking why they can’t stream the music and I’m sad to have to say that it’s out of my control.</p>— Four Tet (@FourTet) <a href="https://twitter.com/FourTet/status/1462474704397082624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The next day, Canadian indietronica icon Caribou tweeted out in support of Four Tet:
Please read this thread from Kieran @fourtet. Kieran is my musical mentor and I've never met anyone as committed to the betterment of musical culture and being an advocate for independent artists as he is. 1/
His decisions throughout this have been consistently motivated by settling a fair precedent for other artists in similar situations rather than by his own self interest. 2/
It's often assumed that independent labels have the same interests at heart and are benevolent actors in the current music industry climate. Many are - Waving hand @mergerecords, @cityslang - but it is clear from their actions, that the management at @dominorecordco are not. 3/
Knowing more about what is going on behind the scenes with this case only makes me more sure of this opinion 4/
Taking down Kieran's albums rather than allow a precedent to be set for musicians to receive fair share of streaming revenue can only be seen as a desperate and vindictive act. /end
Well, it looks like Domino have removed three of Four Tet’s albums amid a high-profile legal battle regarding the royalty rate from their 2001 contract, the first of its kind to enter the High Courts of London.
According to the prolific electronic music producer’s twitter, a legal representative warned him that Domino would remove his music from all digital streaming platforms if legal action were to persist. Two days ago, it appeared that Domino had made good on their promise, removing Pause (28 May 2001), Rounds (5 May 2003), and Everything Ecstatic (23 May 2005) from major streaming platforms.
Here’s how abruptly things progressed:
Four Tet’s Pause is released on Domino. After releases on Output and Warp Records including a remix of Aphex Twin’s “Cliffs” that launched his career, he finally signed with Domino. Signed under a completely different distribution model than the one in which Four Tet’s recordings are consumed today, Spotify on the debuted in 2008 and the iPod later in ’01.
Domino would later become an indie powerhouse and the seventh biggest corporate group in terms of streams across the pond, in part from Arctic Monkeys’ catalogue and their massive AM, which has racked up billions of streams.
After obtaining legal papers filed with the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court of England, British trade paper Music Week reports that Four Tet is suing Domino in a landmark case that could have major implications on streaming law in the UK.
Publicized as the first entity to pursue a DSP royalty with the High Court, Four Tet claims that Domino is liable for breach of contract, which the indie giant rejected.
The claim is regarding the royalty rate both parties allegedly agreed upon contractually. Four Tet is claiming 50% in royalties and £70,000 plus legal costs for historical streaming and downloads. Four Tet’s contract counted an 18% royalty rate for record sales, a far smaller figure without the consideration of album sale equivalents.
The contract includes a crucial clause stating that any recordings under contract licensed outside of the UK will be subjected to a 50% royalty rate. Domino on the other hand refer to a separate clause that states new technology in which CDs, vinyl, and cassettes predate, shall be paid at 75% the standard rate, in this case a measly 13.5%.
Four Tet tweets his grievances that three of his albums released on Domino Records have been removed from streaming:
I’m so upset to see that @Dominorecordco have removed the 3 albums of mine they own from digital and streaming services. This is heartbreaking to me. People are reaching out asking why they can’t stream the music and I’m sad to have to say that it’s out of my control.
I have an ongoing legal dispute with Domino over the rate they pay me for streaming that is due to be heard in court on the 18th of January. It was in the press a little while back:
Earlier this week Domino’s legal representative said they would remove my music from all digital services in order to stop the case progressing. I did not agree to them taking this action and I’m truly shocked that it has come to this.
I signed with Domino over 20 years ago, in a different time before streaming and downloads were something we thought about.
I considered the people who ran Domino to be my friends and to be driven by trying to create a great musical community. As a result Domino own 3 of my albums forever. Music I created that’s important to me and to many of you too.
I believe there is an issue within the music industry on how the money is being shared out in the streaming era and I think its time for artists to be able to ask for a fairer deal.
It’s time to try and make changes where we can. I’m not driven by the money, but I have to make a stand when I am experiencing something that’s simply unfair.
Shout out to everyone out there enjoying my music and supporting the stuff I do!! I hope we can get this music back soon…
There Is Love in You from 2010 is still available as are all of his records for Domino under his legal name Kieran Hebden: The Exchange Session Vol. 1, The Exchange Session Vol. 2, Tongues, and NYC.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I’m so upset to see that <a href="https://twitter.com/Dominorecordco?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Dominorecordco</a> have removed the 3 albums of mine they own from digital and streaming services. This is heartbreaking to me. People are reaching out asking why they can’t stream the music and I’m sad to have to say that it’s out of my control.</p>— Four Tet (@FourTet) <a href="https://twitter.com/FourTet/status/1462474704397082624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The next day, Canadian indietronica icon Caribou tweeted out in support of Four Tet:
Please read this thread from Kieran @fourtet. Kieran is my musical mentor and I've never met anyone as committed to the betterment of musical culture and being an advocate for independent artists as he is. 1/
His decisions throughout this have been consistently motivated by settling a fair precedent for other artists in similar situations rather than by his own self interest. 2/
It's often assumed that independent labels have the same interests at heart and are benevolent actors in the current music industry climate. Many are - Waving hand @mergerecords, @cityslang - but it is clear from their actions, that the management at @dominorecordco are not. 3/
Knowing more about what is going on behind the scenes with this case only makes me more sure of this opinion 4/
Taking down Kieran's albums rather than allow a precedent to be set for musicians to receive fair share of streaming revenue can only be seen as a desperate and vindictive act. /end
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