{"id":5732,"date":"2026-01-09T17:03:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T17:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/worldpostone\/2026\/01\/09\/umg-defeats-salt-n-pepa-in-second-high-profile-victory-after-drake-win\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T17:03:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T17:03:56","slug":"umg-defeats-salt-n-pepa-in-second-high-profile-victory-after-drake-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/worldpostone\/2026\/01\/09\/umg-defeats-salt-n-pepa-in-second-high-profile-victory-after-drake-win\/","title":{"rendered":"UMG Defeats Salt-N-Pepa In Second High-Profile Victory After Drake Win"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allhiphop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Salt-N-Pepa.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div wp_automatic_readability=\"82.535621913943\">\n<p>UMG scored another decisive legal victory Thursday when a federal judge dismissed <a title=\"\u200c\" href=\"https:\/\/allhiphop.com\/tag\/salt-n-pepa\/\">Salt-N-Pepa<\/a>\u2018s lawsuit against the music giant, marking the label\u2019s second major court win against prominent rap artists in recent months.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. District Judge Denise Cote ruled that Hip-Hop pioneers Cheryl James and Sandra Denton failed to establish ownership of the copyrights they were trying to reclaim under federal law. The judge said Salt-N-Pepa never owned the master recordings from their 1986 agreements and therefore could not terminate rights they never possessed.<\/p>\n<p>The dismissal represents UMG\u2019s latest courtroom triumph after the label successfully defended against <a title=\"\u200c\" href=\"https:\/\/allhiphop.com\/tag\/drake\/\">Drake<\/a>\u2018s defamation lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar\u2019s explosive diss track \u201cNot Like Us\u201d in October 2025.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/allhiphop.com\/news\/salt-n-pepa-umg-holding-copyrights-hostage\/\">Salt-N-Pepa sued UMG in May 2025, alleging the label retaliated against their copyright termination efforts by removing classics such as \u201cPush It\u201d and \u201cShoop\u201d from streaming platforms.<\/a> The duo argued they followed federal law allowing artists to reclaim music rights after 35 years, but UMG rejected their notices and removed their catalog from Spotify and Apple Music.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Cote\u2019s ruling emphasized that copyright termination rights only apply to authors who executed original grants.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><d## class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><br \/>\n<d## class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Salt-N-Pepa in fight against record label for music rights\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gGugj_3Thxk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/d##><br \/>\n<\/d##><\/figure>\n<p>Since Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s complaint failed to show they ever transferred copyrights to anyone else, the court concluded they had no legal standing to terminate non-existent transfers.<\/p>\n<p>UMG celebrated the decision with a pointed statement calling the lawsuit \u201cbaseless\u201d and noting they had attempted to resolve the matter privately before litigation began. The label stated that it made multiple efforts to improve <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/gGugj_3Thxk?si=shgtxl1c-fzTsQNp\">Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s compensation<\/a> and to ensure fan access to their music, without any legal obligation to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s lawsuit had sought declaratory relief, damages, and a permanent injunction to stop UMG from interfering with their rights.<\/p>\n<p>Their complaint noted that \u201cPush It\u201d alone has generated over 210 million Spotify streams and continues earning millions in royalties and sync deals.<\/p>\n<p>The dismissal leaves Salt-N-Pepa without recourse to reclaim their most valuable recordings, while UMG maintains control over a catalog that has generated substantial revenue for decades. The label expressed willingness to continue working with the duo despite the legal defeat.<\/p>\n<p>UMG\u2019s spokesperson said the company remains \u201copen and willing to find a resolution\u201d and wants to focus on amplifying Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s legacy for future generations.<\/p>\n<p>The music conglomerate\u2019s legal department has proven particularly effective at dismantling artist challenges to their business practices.<\/p>\n<p>In Drake\u2019s case, the court rejected claims that UMG artificially inflated \u201cNot Like Us\u201d through bots and pay-to-play schemes, finding his evidence consisted of unreliable social media commentary.<\/p>\n<p>The label represents both Drake and Kendrick Lamar through different divisions, yet successfully argued Drake\u2019s defamation claims were merely an attempt to save face after losing his rap battle.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling establishes UMG\u2019s position that artists\u2019 challenges to their catalog ownership face significant legal hurdles, particularly when original recording agreements lack clear copyright transfers.<\/p>\n<p>Both Salt-N-Pepa and Drake found that federal courts require substantial evidence to support claims against major-label practices. UMG\u2019s legal team will likely use these victories as precedent when defending against future artist lawsuits challenging their control over valuable master recordings and promotional strategies.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related<\/em><\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t<!-- CONTENT END 1 --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/allhiphop.com\/news\/umg-defeats-salt-n-pepa-in-second-high-profile-victory-after-drake-win\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UMG scored another decisive legal victory Thursday when a federal judge dismissed Salt-N-Pepa\u2018s lawsuit against the music giant, marking the label\u2019s second major court win against prominent rap artists in recent months. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote ruled that Hip-Hop pioneers Cheryl James and Sandra Denton failed to establish ownership of the copyrights they were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hip-hop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/worldpostone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/worldpostone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/worldpostone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/worldpostone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/worldpostone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/worldpostone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/worldpostone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/worldpostone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/worldpostone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicheblog.top\/worldpostone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}