Tame Impala May Be Missing Twice As Much Money As Originally Estimated

This week's saga involving German multinational music company BMG and its allegations against Modular Recordings founder Stephen Pavlovic over missing Tame Impala royalties — to which the entrepreneur known as 'Pav' responded yesterday — has evolved yet again.

According to a new report in The Australian, the West Australian psych-rock outfit — or, more specifically, primary songwriter Kevin Parker — may actually be owed close to double the amount of money in royalties that was originally estimated; in addition to the previously highlighted $US450,000 (about $575,000) in 'mechanical' licensing fees alleged to be owed to the band, The Australian reports that a further $US350,000 to $US400,000 in international album sales is also being contested in the US court case, which also lists Universal Music Australia and Modular itself as defendants, despite their objections.

The revised figure — which puts the amount owing to Parker/Tame Impala frighteningly close to the million-dollar mark — comes amid legal activity against Pavlovic at home, where he is fighting a battle against his co-BMG defendants UMA and Modular over their allegations he "wrongfully retained" an artist's advance payment "for his own benefit", and failed to pay relevant overseas album royalties to the companies. 

Lawyers for both sides presented submissions to Justice John Sackar in the Supreme Court Of New South Wales yesterday, with the judge telling Pavlovic's representatives that the businessman had been "a thorn in Universal's side", while court documents cited by The Australian point to UMA itself describing Pavlovic as "a person … prepared to lie and give a false account of past events in an attempt to advance his interests in the case".

The evident acrimony spills beyond the Australian case, however, with Pavlovic squarely pointing the finger at Universal over the allegedly unpaid royalties in his lawyer-issued response to BMG, claiming that the company has been responsible for such payments since January 2014 and, in fact, owes him money to the tune of $32,500 in unpaid annual leave. According to The Australian, Universal have denied Pavlovic's claims.