\n<\/p>\n
\n\tSalt-N-Pepa<\/a> are speaking out about their legal battle <\/a>with Universal Music Group. In a new interview with Good Morning America<\/em>, the rap duo \u2014 Cheryl \u201cSalt\u201d James and Sandra \u201cPepa\u201d Denton\u00a0\u2014 explained their decision to sue their record company more than 30 years after first signing their contract. Salt-N-Pepa filed a federal lawsuit<\/a> against UMG in May, accusing the label of violating the Copyright Act by not allowing the musicians to reclaim control of their music\u2019s intellectual property.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s time for us to fight for our rights,\u201d said James. \u201cWhen you\u2019re an artist, in the beginning, you sign a contract saying that the copyrights will revert back to you after 35 years. And we\u2019ve done all the things legally to get our copyrights back. But they\u2019re just refusing, so we had to sue them.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the law. That\u2019s what it really boils down to,\u201d Denton added.<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to the lawsuit, obtained by\u00a0Rolling Stone,<\/em>\u00a0the pair filed notices of termination in 2022 to reclaim the master rights, which are owned by UMG\u2019s Next Plateau Records and London Records, signed in 1986 and 1992, respectively. In response, UMG claimed in a recent filing that Salt-N-Pepa don\u2019t have the right to exercise their \u201ctermination rights\u201d since they didn\u2019t sign the contract themselves.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe didn\u2019t have that leverage. We didn\u2019t have that knowledge. We didn\u2019t have that control in the Eighties. And so, to be held to a contract from 1985, and 40 years later, it\u2019s, like, ridiculous,\u201d said James of that response. (The pair said it was also receiving the support of former member, DJ Spinderella.)<\/p>\n \n\tIn their lawsuit and in the GMA<\/em> conversation, the pair claimed UMG has prevented them from promoting their music and has removed it from streaming services. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cObviously, it\u2019s something. They wanna keep it. They wanna hold onto it. And they\u2019re tryin\u2019 to fight us,\u201d Denton said. \u201cSo, obviously, they understand what\u2019s the worth of that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhen the artists filed their lawsuit back in May, a UMG spokesperson told Rolling Stone<\/em> that the filings showed their \u201crepeated attempts\u201d to \u201cresolve this matter amicably.\u201d The rep explained:\u00a0\u201cClearly, the artists\u2019 legal counsel thinks they can use the threat of negative media coverage from the lawsuit to achieve their unreasonable demands.\u00a0Despite this, and consistent with our longstanding practice, we remain committed to working towards an amicable resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n