Slim Shady Takes On Apple

Music publisher Eight Mile Style and Apple have been dickering about this all week in hopes of reaching a settlement. But by the end of Wednesday, both sides continued to disagree, resulting in a trial scheduled to begin today.

Eight Mile Style claims copyright infringement, saying it never granted Apple permission to sell 93 Eminem tracks on iTunes. Apple’s counter argument is that it received permission from Aftermath Records, which controls Em’s sound recordings.

This isn’t the first time an Eminem-related company has had a beef with digital sales. Earlier this year a federal jury ruled against the rapper’s former production company when it claimed it was owed a bigger chunk of royalties from online sales.

F.B.T. Productions sued Universal Music Group, Aftermath and distributor Interscope, saying it should receive 50 percent of all download sales. At that time F.B.T. argued that royalty payments should be based on a master recording agreement between Universal and Apple calling for rights holders to split payments equally.

However, the jury disagreed, ruling instead that F.B.T. should receive the standard 12 percent payment for download sales.