Bay City Rollers sue record label over 'owed royalties'

Seventies pop idols the Bay City Rollers are suing Arista Records, accusing the firm of failing to pass along millions in royalties for the last 25 years.

The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Manhattan, seeks unspecified damages on behalf of six band members, including bassist Alan Longmuir and his brother, drummer Derek Longmuir, who started the group in Edinburgh in 1967.

The band, whose hits include Bye Bye Baby and I Only Want To Be With You, says in the lawsuit that Arista owes it royalties on millions of dollars it had generated as a result of selling the band’s albums, compact discs, multimedia licences, merchandise and rights to commercials, films and even telephone ringtones.

In the lawsuit, the band says Arista has taken the position that it has held royalties from the band members for more than 25 years until it receives clear instructions from them on how the money should be distributed.

The lawsuit says a payment of $254,392 in September 1997 was the only one made to the band, well short of the millions the band believes it is owed.

“Arista’s claim over the last 25 years that it does not know who to pay, is and always has been a pretext intended to deprive the Rollers of the royalties to which they are entitled,” the lawsuit says.

A telephone message left with a lawyer for Arista was not immediately returned.

The band, first known as the Saxons, sought a less English-sounding name and found it after throwing a dart that landed on a map near Bay City, Michigan, the lawsuit says. After gaining success in the UK, the group went in 1975 on a worldwide tour that included stops in Canada, Australia and Japan.

In the US, the group scored a number one hit with Saturday Night and rose high on the charts with Money Honey, You Made Me Believe in Magic and I Only Want To Be With You, before breaking up in 1981.