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MUSIC WEEK, 5 APRIL 1997
SAW team fall out over Eighties hits cash
The three partners of the hugely-influential production
team Stock Aitken & Waterman are locked in a
heavyweight legal battle over recording copyrights and
the royalties earned by two of their biggest stars of the
past decade.
Mike Stock confirmed last week that he and Matt
Aitken have launched a legal action against Pete
Waterman, his companies PAL Productions and
PWL Records, and Warner's newly-renamed
Coalition Recordings International.
The pair are pressing for an investigation by the courts
into money earned, claiming that they have been underpaid for
their work as producers on hits by Kylie Minogue and
Jason Donovan.
The legal move, initiated through Stock and Aitken's
solicitors Clintons, also calls for an account of royalty
statements and a declaration that the two former
partners of SAW have ownership rights in the hits they
produced. The writs do not identify whether the actions
relate to some or all of Donovan and Minogue's SAW
recordings.
The writ is the latest twist in the acrimonious split
between Waterman and his two former partners, but all
three declined to comment on the action. Frere
Cholmeley Bischoff, which is representing Coalition
(formerly known as PWL International), and Taylor
Joynson Garrett, which is representing Waterman and
his two companies, also refused to comment.
It is understood that Stock and Aitken want rights to the
pair's entire SAW catalogue to be split three ways
between themselves and Waterman. An expert observer
says the writ appears to be a classic inquiry determining
ownership of musical copyright in recordings and
dissatisfaction with royalty audits.
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