The heirs of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell sue Sony Music for royalties from the Jimi Hendrix Experience
The lawyers representing Redding and Noel’s estates claim that the Jimi Hendrix Experience rakes up “millions of pounds” in streaming and sales each year.
Mitch Mitchell (left), Jimi Hendrix (centre) and Noel Redding (right) of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Image: Gunter Zint/K & K Ulf Kruger OHG/Redferns via Getty Images
The heirs of bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell – who made up two thirds of the Jimi Hendrix Experience – have filed a lawsuit against Sony Music for copyright infringement and are seeking royalties.
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The suit, which Variety reports was filed in London’s High Court, alleges that Redding and Mitchell have a stake in the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s music and are thus owed for streaming and digital media revenue.
The filing follows preemptive legal action taken in New York by Sony Music and Hendrix’s estate last month, which sought to invalidate claims of copyright infringement made by Redding and Mitchell’s estates.
Last month, Dorothy Weber, the attorney representing Hendrix’s Estate and Sony, claimed that Mitchell and Redding signed away their rights to the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s music in the 70s, following the legendary guitarist’s death.
According to Variety, a pre-action letter from Redding and Mitchell’s legal team estates disputed that the documents and contracts previously signed in the 70s don’t “operate as a bar” to the claims.
It further added that they also didn’t extend to streaming or other digital media revenue which “none of the parties would have been able to foresee or contemplate” when they were signed at the time.
Redding and Mitchell’s legal team estimate that there have been three billion streams of the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s music, which they claimed equated to “millions of pounds” in streaming and sales annually. They added that per Redding and Mitchell’s original agreement with Hendrix, profits were to be divided three ways, with Hendrix taking 50 per cent, and Redding and Mitchell each taking 25 per cent.