The estates of Jimi Hendrix’s former Experience bandmates have lost a lawsuit seeking back royalties for their work on his recordings, after a High Court judge ruled that the relevant recording agreements clearly assigned copyright to the producers.
Bass guitarist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience with Hendrix in 1966. The trio went on to perform on Hendrix’s first three albums — Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland — as well as a range of singles and non-album tracks that helped define the electric guitarist’s breakthrough career.
The lawsuit, brought against Sony Music Entertainment UK, alleged that Redding and Mitchell were excluded from royalties during their lifetimes and “died in relative poverty,” despite the continued commercial success of Hendrix’s catalog. It further claimed that their successors were entitled to a share of ongoing revenues but had been excluded by the administrators of Hendrix’s estate.
Redding died in 2003 at age 57, and Mitchell died in 2008 at age 62.
Sony Music’s legal team argued that under the original recording agreements, copyright in the master recordings was held by the producers rather than the performing musicians.
The High Court of Justice rejected the estates’ claim. In a ruling issued April 28, Mr Justice Johnson said the contractual language was “clear and unequivocal.”
“The producers and the band members agreed that the producers would have the copyright throughout the world in the recordings,” he said. “There was no temporal or territorial limitation to this agreement.”
In the ruling, the court effectively upheld Sony’s interpretation of the agreements, finding that the contractual terms governed ownership of the recordings and left no scope for the claims advanced by the estates.
Following the decision, Janie Hendrix, sister of the late guitarist and chief executive of Experience Hendrix, said she had “nothing but positive memories of Noel and Mitch.”
“Experience Hendrix’s longstanding relationships with both reflect a consistent commitment to honoring and supporting the musicians who were part of Jimi Hendrix’s history,” she said.
The case also underscores the stark contrast between Hendrix’s financial position at the time of his death and the subsequent value of his catalog. When the electric guitar innovator died in 1970 at age 27, he reportedly had around $20,000 in his bank account and outstanding debts. Today, his estate is estimated to be worth more than $175 million, driven by ongoing royalties, licensing and merchandising.
