A husband-and-wife team who originally signed up the band Blur have launched a £250,000 royalties claim against EMI Records. David and Helen Balfe were paid £475,000 in 1994 when they sold their record label, Food Ltd, to EMI in a takeover which included a future royalties deal.
The London High Court heard today that EMI had agreed to pay royalties to the Balfes for the first two albums of the artists from the Food catalogue. EMI released Blur's album, The Great Escape, in September 1995. The album sold 2,150,000 copies in 57 territories throughout the world. EMI then released a second Blur album of the band playing live in Tokyo. This album, which was aimed mainly at the Japanese market, sold 80,000 copies. Blur's third album, Blur, on which no royalties were due to the Balfes, was released in February, 1997 and sold 2,400,000 copies in 50 territories.
The Balfes are claiming that Blur's second album should be ignored as part of the royalties deal and they should be paid their fees on the third album. Robert Englehart QC, representing the Balfes said that EMI had used the same method with another band discovered by the Balfes, Shampoo, whose second album was also targeted at the Japanese market.
