Fans Rally To Help The Slits Write Off A 40-Year-Old Debt To Island Records

Influential punk iconoclasts The Slits are the subject of a grassroots campaign to help clear a debt with old label Island Records that the band has been working off for the past four decades.

Spearheaded by the Uncensored! punk-rock radio show, a Change.org petition has been launched to ask Island Records to wipe The Slits' debt, which the label claims still stands at about $10,000. The original debt arose from a $45,000 advance paid to the band in 1979 in aid of their debut full-length release, Cut, though guitarist Viv Albertine maintains that sum should have been taken care of long ago.

As she explained in a post on social media, "Island paid a 45k advance to the Slits in 1979, a sum they have recouped many times over, but because the Slits only get 8% of Island's profits (after all Island's costs and repayments) which then goes towards paying off our advance — they say we still owe 10k".

"We do not even have money for a lawyer," Albertine wrote. "It's complicated… but the truth is, even though many thousands of copies of Cut have been sold and Island are in profit from the record and Dennis Bovell, the producer, got a different deal and gets paid, the Slits have never received any money, NOT ONE PENNY, from Island for the 'classic, in their top fifty albums of all time' record, Cut." 

The petition seeks to enable The Slits, widely regarded as the first all-female punk band, to clear their debt with Island "and enable them to receive long awaited royalties". At the time of writing, it has accrued 4899 out of a necessary 5000 supporters to get the petition in front of the people at Island — so if you've got the time and inclination, head this way to lend your signature to the cause.

The Slits released three albums during their original run together, following Cut with their officially untitled second LP (aka Bootleg Retrospective) in 1980 before dropping Return Of The Giant Slits in 1981. They disbanded in 1982, before reconvening in 2005 (sans Albertine) and releasing 2009 album Trapped Animal ahead of the death of frontwoman Ari Up in 2010.