Contracts Keyed to Calamari
Greenfield v. Philles Records, Inc.
Facts
The Plaintiffs were the individuals making up the group of "The Ronettes" (the "Plaintiffs"). One of the Plaintiffs was Ronnie Greenfield ("Ms. Greenfield"). In 1963, the Plaintiffs entered into a five year "personal services" recording contract (the "Agreement") with the Defendants, Phil Spector ("Mr. Spector") and his production company, Philles Records (the "Defendants"). The Plaintiffs "agreed to perform exclusively for Philles Records and in exchange, Philles Records acquired an ownership right to the recordings of the Ronettes' musical performances." The Agreement provided for the Plaintiffs to receive royalties and also granted them a lump sum payment of about $15,000. The group disbanded in 1967 and Plaintiffs never received any royalty payments despite their popularity. The Plaintiffs most popular album was "Be My Baby". Ms. Greenfield and Mr. Spector were married in 1968 and separated a few years later. A divorce settlement was agreed to in 1974 and the settlement included "mutual general releases that purported to resolve all past and future claims and obligations that existed between them, as well as between Greenfield and Spector's companies." Music from the 1960's became popular again and the Defendants began to "mak[e] use of new recording technologies and licensing master recordings of the Ronettes' vocal performances for use in movie and television productions, a process known in entertainment industry parlance as 'synchronization.' " The Defendants also profited with the Plaintiffs' music in other ways by utilizing advances in technology. The Plaintiffs never received any royalties from these endeavors.
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