A judge has rejected Salt-N-Pepa’s attempt to reclaim their masters, the Associated Press reports. Cheryl James (Salt) and Sandra Denton (Pepa) had filed a petition under the copyright act of 1976, which allows artists tot terminate previous agreements and reclaim ownership of their recordings after several decades. They were seeking to get their recordings from Universal Music Group, which prompted UMG to take their music off streaming. Now U.S. District Judge Denise Cote has ruled in favor of UMG, writing that the band never owned their music, and thus cannot reclaim it. “Plaintiffs can only terminate copyright transfers that they executed,” she wrote. “None of the contracts identified by Plaintiffs indicate that they ever owned the Master Tapes.”
UMG asserted Salt-N-Pepa made their songs — “Push It,” “Shoop,” and “Let’s Talk About Sex” among them — as “works made for hire,” which would prevent the band from ever claiming copyright. “Even with the court’s complete rejection of their claims, we remain open and willing to find a resolution to the matter and turn the page so we can focus our efforts on working together to amplify Salt-N-Pepa’s legacy for generations to come,” a spokesperson for UMG said.
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But neither Salt nor Pepa are giving up. Reps for the band said they “fully intend to pursue our rights on appeal,” and that “We remain committed to vindicating and reclaiming our rights as creators under the Copyright Act.” Excluded from this narrative is DJ Spinderella, who broke with the band in 2019 and is not a part of this dispute. Apparently she does not want to push it with UMG.
