It appears Drake isn’t the only recording artist that has an issue with UMG. Today (March 15), Iggy Azalea slammed Universal Music in a series of posts online (viewable here) claiming the company currently owes her millions in royalty back pay.
Over on X (formerly Twitter), the “Money Come” rapper claimed that she has “never” been “paid a single royalty” check for “anything outside of the US.” Although Azalea stepped away from music last year, she says that her legal team has been keeping a close eye on her catalog’s past earnings.
She went on to accuse the Universal, who she referred to as “criminals” and “the scummiest company,” of stealing royalty revenue from her “in the 8 figure range.”
“Universal Music, mark my words you ugly b*tch,” she wrote. “You will pay me what’s owed.”
Azalea then uploaded a private conversation with her lawyer (viewable here), where they claim Universal attempted to settle the matter for $18,000 after supposedly two years of battling over the funds. Around that time, Azalea reportedly sold her master recordings and publishing to Domain Capital.
Read Iggy Azalea’s full statement below.
Crazy how in my entire career I was never paid a single royalty by Universal Music for anything outside of the USA. They owe me millions of dollars in back pay, that they technically stole from me, as per my contract I am due payment.
The amount owed is in the 8 figure range. Last week they tried to respond to my lawyer and offer me a settlement of $18k. I’m told this is a normal response from their lawyers and after appearing in court they end up paying millions as they’re supposed to. Thankfully I’m well off and can and will pursue this issue until they pay me what they owe. But I’d like to publicly say that I think Universal Music are criminals who actively take advantage of ALL of their artists in perpetuity for their own gain.
They are the scummiest company, and they do this to SO MANY artists who unfortunately can’t afford to fight for what they’re owed thus they get away with this behavior. Universal Music really needs to do better in their treatment of the artists who quite literally earn them millions via intellectual property they had zero part in creating. Yuck.
Universal Music has not yet issued a response to Iggy Azalea’s claims.
