{"id":1745947,"date":"2026-01-09T01:50:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1745947"},"modified":"2026-01-09T01:50:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:50:21","slug":"salt-n-pepas-lawsuit-against-universal-music-group-dismissed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1745947","title":{"rendered":"Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s Lawsuit Against Universal Music Group Dismissed"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/media.pitchfork.com\/photos\/696031ccc650e2992dfd3921\/16:9\/w_1280,c_limit\/Salt-N-Pepa.jpeg”]<\/p>\n

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Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s Lawsuit Against Universal Music Group Dismissed<\/h1>\n
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A U.S. District Court judge ruled the do do not have the rights to reclaim ownership of their master recordings<\/div>\n
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By <\/span>Walden Green<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s Sandra \u201cPepa\u201d Denton and Cheryl \u201cSalt\u201d James, November 2025 (Gilbert Flores\/Billboard via Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Last year, Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s Cheryl \u201cSalt\u201d James and Sandra \u201cPepa\u201d Denton filed suit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over the rights to their catalog, claiming that the label had pulled the duo\u2019s songs from streaming platforms after they attempted to regain control of their masters. Lawyers for UMG subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, and today (Thursday, January 8), a judge in New York\u2019s Southern District Court ruled in their favor.<\/p>\n

James and Denton\u2014Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s former DJ, Spinderella, was not party to the complaint\u2014based their claim on the \u201ctermination rights\u201d outlined in Section 203 of the Copyright Act of 1976, which allow artists to reclaim the copyrights on their master recordings after several decades. However, in a copy of her decision obtained by Pitchfork, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote finds that Salt-N-Pepa never owned their masters to begin with; the group had originally granted ownership to their first label, Noise in the Attic (NITA) Productions, and were not included in the contract that transferred those rights to UMG predecessor Next Plateau Records in 1986.<\/p>\n

In a statement to Pitchfork, a UMG spokesperson wrote, \u201cWhile we are gratified that the court dismissed this baseless lawsuit, it should never have been brought in the first place. Prior to this suit\u2014and without any legal obligation to do so\u2014we made multiple attempts to resolve the matter amicably, improve the artists\u2019 compensation, and ensure that Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s fans had access to their music. Even with the court\u2019s 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\u2019s legacy for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe respectfully disagree with the Court’s decision and fully intend to pursue our rights on appeal,\u201d Salt-N-Pepa wrote in response to the dismissal. \u201cWe remain committed to vindicating and reclaiming our rights as creators under the Copyright Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story has been updated with a statement from Salt-N-Pepa.<\/em><\/p>\n

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[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/news\/salt-n-pepas-lawsuit-against-universal-music-group-dismissed\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/media.pitchfork.com\/photos\/696031ccc650e2992dfd3921\/16:9\/w_1280,c_limit\/Salt-N-Pepa.jpeg”] News Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s Lawsuit Against Universal Music Group Dismissed A U.S. District Court judge ruled the do do not have the rights to reclaim ownership of their master recordings By Walden Green January 9, 2026 Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s Sandra \u201cPepa\u201d Denton and Cheryl \u201cSalt\u201d James, November 2025 (Gilbert Flores\/Billboard via Getty Images) Last year, Salt-N-Pepa\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,54],"class_list":["post-1745947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-pitchfork-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1745947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1745947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1745947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1745947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}