Modular Recordings founder Stephen “Pav” Pavlovic has responded to claims that arose from a lawsuit filed by German publishing behemoth BMG in a New York court, which alleged that he owes the company almost $600,000 in unpaid royalties related to Tame Impala.
As Tone Deaf previously reported, BMG claim that Modular was given a “mechanical license” to Tame Impala’s songs in March last year on the condition that the label would pay royalties within 45 days of the end of each quarter.
However, BMG allege that this never happened. Furthermore, the publishing giant have accused Pavlovic, Modular, and Modular co-founder Universal Music of ignoring a cease and desist order instructing them to refrain from selling any more of Tame Impala’s material.
Universal Music soon came out with their own statement, in which they claimed BMG’s agreement was with an organisation owned and operated solely by Pavlovic, “a totally separate US-registered company” not affiliated with Universal or the Modular label.
As The Music reports, law firm Levitt Robinson has now issued a statement on the music mogul’s behalf, in which they confirm that “an America-based company owned by Mr Pavlovic” did hold the mechanical licence for Tame Impala’s music until “about” January last year.
However, it was at this point “the distribution — and the liability to pay the mechanical royalties — was assumed by a Universal Music Group entity”.
According to the statement, Mr Pavlovic “accepts that his American company was responsible for the payment of royalties for the period that his company was distributing the Tame Impala works in the USA, but not for the period since Universal Music Group began distributing those works”.
“It is not clear at this stage whether BMG is claiming any unpaid royalties relating to the period in which Mr Pavlovic’s company was distributing Tame Impala records,” the statement continued, before pointing the finger at Universal Music Group for failing to hand over BMG’s money.
Levitt Robinson claim “no Tame Impala royalties have been paid at all” since UMG took over the mechanical licence and that Pavlovic “does not accept liability for any failure by Universal Music Group or its subsidiaries to make royalty payments to BMG”.
However, the statement does not address claims made by Universal Music Australia that the music mogul “wrongfully retain[ed] for his own benefit” money that was given to him by an unidentified Modular artist as repayment for an advance.
The details of UMA’s suit against Pavlovic and co remain unclear and according to The Music, the label would not comment on the action. The case will reportedly be heard this Friday and overseen by Justice J Sackar.
As The Music Network reports, during a Supreme Court proceeding in Sydney this morning, solicitors representing Pavlovic and Universal Music Australia set out arguments regarding the termination of Pavlovic’s employment.
According to The Music Network, alleged emails between solicitors representing Pavlovic and UMA were at the heart of the submissions. At one point Justice Sackar said, “Your client was a thorn in Universal’s side.”
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One email sent on 24th December included the final of four settlement deeds sent from UMA to Pavlovic. It followed months of negotiations over his employment and Modular, which was then a co-owned, sub-licensed label under Universal Music Australia, with a roster including Tame Impala and The Presets.
However, the deed was not signed and Pavlovic continued to attend industry events as a manager of Modular. Justice Sackar called this a “filibustering period”. Justice Sackar heard that Pavlovic’s employment contract was terminated on 23rd February this year when he “breached accrued annual leave payment”.
Meanwhile, Pavlovic’s October application to trademark Modular via his company, Pavlovic Investments, was contested by UMA and Modular Recordings. Its current status is listed as being in a ‘cooling off period’ until October this year.
The revelations about Pavlovic follow comments made by Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker back in May. During a Reddit AMA, Parker, who pens almost all of Tame Impala’s material, told fans that he had received “zero dollars” from all of Tame Impala’s record sales “outside of Australia”.
“Up until recently, from all of Tame Impala’s record sales outside of Australia I had received… zero dollars,” he said. “Someone high up spent the money before it got to me. I may never get that money.”
