Kanye West keen to settle his contract dispute with EMI in private – Music News

Kanye West and EMI bosses are trying to settle their contract battle in private after weeks of very public attacks on each other.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, the rapper and his record label’s top brass have filed to ask a judge to stay the case.

The two parties now wish to “explore the potential for a resolution of this action”, and they believe a stay would benefit everyone by “enabling the parties to engage in meaningful discussions in an attempt to resolve this action without having to incur the burden and expense of litigation and motion practice.”

They are asking for a 60-day extension.

West sparked the feud when he sued song publisher EMI earlier this year, claiming his deal was unfair and illegal and wanted it voided. He believed the deal should have expired in 2010 and sued for ownership of his music catalogue.

The EMI bosses filed their own lawsuit against Kanye for his attempts to get out of his deal and called for a court order declaring the contract to be valid. They insisted the terms of the agreement are all legal in New York, where the deal was signed – and extended.

Kanye filed his documents in California, where such lengthy agreements are frowned upon, but EMI lawyers insisted he had no chance of pushing through his suit, because New York doesn’t have a seven-year rule, like lawmakers do out west.

The Stronger rapper filed suit at the Los Angeles Superior Court in January (19), demanding “to be set free from” their contract, claiming that under the terms of the deal he must “remain actively involved in writing, recording and producing” songs and albums.

“At no time during the term will you seek to retire as a songwriter, recording artist or producer or take any extended hiatus during which you are not actively pursuing your musical career in the same basic manner as you have pursued such career to date,” the contract reads, according to his complaint.

The 41-year-old argued that the contract he signed was “lopsided” and claimed it is a violation of California state law to keep anyone locked into a “personal service” contract for more than seven years.

He has signed five extensions with the label since 2003, but these should not count after 2010, his lawyers state, and they asked a judge to declare the rapper the owner of all music he has created since October, 2010, when the seven-year contract concluded.