George Clinton has filed a lawsuit against his longtime music industry foe, Armen Boladian, accusing the music executive of fraud, copyright infringement, and withholding royalties.
The complaint, obtained by Rolling Stone, was filed in Florida District Court Tuesday, March 11. Naming Boladian and several of his companies (including Nine Records, Southfield Music, and Eastbound Records) as defendants, the suit accuses them of developing a “decades long scheme to defraud Clinton,” through which they “fraudulently obtained the copyrights to approximately 90 percent of Clinton’s catalog.”
The Parliament-Funkadelic mastermind is suing for compensatory and punitive damages. He’s also asking the court to terminate Boladian’s hold over his copyrights and regain control of his catalog.
“I’m fighting for my life’s work and to ensure future generations of artists are treated fairly,” Clinton said in a statement. “When you’re young and just starting out in the music industry, it’s easy for others to take advantage of you. My eyes are wide open now, and I look forward to shining a light on the truth and exploitation of musicians.”
Clinton is set to appear at a press conference later today. Boladian did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
Boladian and Clinton worked together at two different points, according to the suit, first from 1968 through 1975, and then from 1981 through 1991. During this time, Boladian served as Clinton’s “business partner, publishing administrator, financial consultant and agent”; but the lawsuit alleges that, rather than administering Clinton’s catalog, Boladian engaged in “abusive, deceptive, and fraudulent practices… with the sole purpose of stealing and misappropriate funds and assets from George Clinton and capitalizing on his success.”
Clinton claims that Boladian not only withheld royalties and failed to provide a proper accounting of them, per industry standards, but that he added “fictitious songwriters” to Clinton’s songs to dilute the musician’s share in his publishing royalties. According to Clinton, Boladian also paid “third parties to claim ownership of” Clinton’s work as part of this alleged dilution scheme.
Furthermore, Clinton claims that, during the Eighties, Belodian “fabricated multiple versions of an agreement” with Clinton that continually increased the defendants’ share of royalties. And Boladian allegedly made numerous deals with record labels and third parties regarding Clinton’s music, without ever telling Clinton, or securing his explicit or implied consent. Clinton claims that, to this day, he still finds out about uses of his music only after encountering them in movies, TV shows, or song samples.
Clinton and Boladian have sparred in court before. Back in the mid-Nineties, a District Court judge determined that Clinton did not sign the document that Boladian’s company used to register its rights with the Copyright Office. The following year, in a sworn declaration, Boladian said that he altered the language of a 1982 written agreement with Clinton and added songs to the agreement (though he did so under the power of attorney). Still, Boladian retained control over the rights to Clinton’s catalog, and in the early 2000s prevailed in a Florida court cause that found Clinton trying to wrest back control of his publishing.
More recently, the 1994 decision — and Boladian’s 1995 declaration — were central to a defamation fight between the two. Boladian sued Clinton over comments in his memoir where the musician said Boladian had “fabricated documents,” “robbed” Clinton of his music rights, and “fraudulently backdated and altered” a written agreement. Clinton, however, won that case.
