A husband-and-wife team who originally signed up rock band Blur today won a £250,000 royalties claim against EMI Records. David and Helen Balfe were paid £475,000 when they sold their record label, Food Ltd, to EMI in 1994. The sale included a future royalties deal with EMI agreeing to pay royalties to the couple for the first two albums released by Food signings. Blur's first two releases on EMI were 'The Great Escape' and 'Blur Live At Budokan', a Japanese only release. The next eponymous Blur album sold over 2m copies but was not part of the royalty deal. The couple argued that 'Blur Live At Budokan' should not be considered part of the deal and that EMI should pay them royalties on the third Blur album.
