According to Cleveland.com, Jeffrey Hatrix, also known as Jeffrey Nothing (born Jeffrey Lewis Hetrick), the former co-founder and distinctive voice of Cleveland‘s pioneering alterna-metal and industrial band MUSHROOMHEAD, has filed a lawsuit against the band’s drummer and producer, Steve “Skinny” Felton. Hatrix alleges copyright infringement and unpaid royalties.
In the lawsuit, which has been obtained by Blabbermouth, Hatrix, who left MUSHROOMHEAD in 2018, claims he has not received royalties for his music “for several years at least,” despite having written or co-written 148 songs during his tenure with the band.
“Most of the performing arts copyright registrations were registered as Stephen Felton being the copyright claimant,” the lawsuit, which was filed on August 12 in federal court in Cleveland, reads. “And, although on many songs [Hatrix] was given proper credit for his participation in creating said works, there seems to be no record of mechanical royalty payments stemming from these performing arts registrations.”
In the years prior to Hatrix‘s exit from MUSHROOMHEAD, “Felton‘s actions … became more nefarious, including the doctoring of publishing splits giving Skinny (Felton) double pay under 2 names ‘Tenafly Viper’ and just plain ‘Steve Felton’, along with 30% going to him under ‘unknown publicist’ and ‘unknown writer’,” according to the lawsuit. “In fact, most of the publishing splits seem to have disappeared as plaintiff has not received any mechanical royalties to speak of for several years at least.
“Although the money coming increased, plaintiff was apparently receiving pennies on the dollar,” the lawsuit adds. “[Hatrix] was paid an ‘allowance’ $1,200 per week per, per tour. In fact, plaintiff was paid almost nothing beyond this and is due his publishing and other, royalties, income from touring, sales and royalties from film media, along with loss from other sources of income to be determined.”
Hatrix‘s attorney, Ronald Stanley, informed Cleveland.com that Hatrix is seeking a minimum of $3.5 million, but noted that “we don’t know all what he is entitled to yet.”
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