Eminem Sues Apple over iTunes Offerings

The rapper's management claims Apple never received permission from them to distribute his music.

Not only is Apple in hot water over the iPhone’s pricy battery replacements, it has also landed in court with rapper Eminem’s management. According to The Detroit News, the dispute concerns Eminem’s songs on iTunes, which the artist’s management say actually infringe on copyrights.

Although Apple has been paying Eminem’s record label, Universal, about 70 cents per song for every download of his music, his music publisher and copyright manager allege that Universal only distributes his CDs, and isn’t authorized to allow music downloads.

Industry experts speculate that the case probably has a lot more to do with battling the convoluted profit distribution of the music industry than battling Apple. Since music publishers currently only snag about 9.1 cents of the 99 cents it costs to download a song, successfully proving that they alone are legally authorized to permit downloads could potentially cut them a bigger share of the profit.

Eight Mile Style LLC and Martin Affiliated filed their suit with a U.S. District Court in Detroit on Monday. Their filing claims that they requested Apple cease and desist with the sales of Eminem’s music to no effect. Apple declined to comment for The Detroit News’ article.

[Eminem previously sued Apple in March 2004 over an iTunes television advertisement which showed a person clearly mouthing Eminem's "Lose Yourself," although Apple never obtained permission to use the song in advertising. The ad never aired on television, but did appear online. Apple settled with Eminem in May 2005 for an undisclosed amount. -Geoff Duncan]