Salt-N-Pepa Reignite Battle for Masters in Lawsuit Against UMG

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<a href="https://www.billboard.com/artist/salt-n-pepa/">**Salt-N-Pepa** </a>argue in a new appeal brief that a judge was wrong to dismiss the duo&rsquo;s high-stakes music ownership lawsuit against **Universal Music Group (UMG)**.








The Tuesday (March 31) court filing at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals is the opening bout in a fight by Cheryl &ldquo;Salt&rdquo; James and Sandra &ldquo;Pepa&rdquo; Denton to revive their copyright case against the world&rsquo;s largest music company. The iconic hip-hop duo <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/salt-n-pepa-lawsuit-music-masters-back-record-label/">sued UMG last year</a> for refusing to honor its so-called &ldquo;termination rights,&rdquo; a tenet of copyright law that allows artists to claw back ownership of their master recordings decades after signing them away.

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WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 24: The exterior of the United States Supreme Court building is seen on February 24, 2026 in Washington, DC. Major music labels plan to soon appeal a landmark copyright ruling to the high court.

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A New York federal judge <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/salt-n-pepa-master-recording-lawsuit-umg-dismissed-judge/">threw out the claims</a> in January, determining that **Salt-N-Pepa** had no termination rights because the duo did not actually sign its 1986 record deal with Next Plateau Records. Rather, that contract was between Next Plateau (which was later sold to London Records, then absorbed by UMG) and Noise in the Attic Productions, a company that was controlled by **Salt-N-Pepa&rsquo;s** music producer, **Hurby &ldquo;Luv Bug&rdquo; Azor**.






**Richard Busch**, the veteran music attorney <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/salt-n-pepa-hire-lawyer-umg-termination-rights-appeal/">newly hired</a> to represent **Salt-N-Pepa** on appeal, says in Tuesday&rsquo;s brief that this dismissal decision was &ldquo;riddled with error.&rdquo; According to Busch, the lower court ignored the fact that **Salt-N-Pepa** owned its music when it was created, and that the duo was the one to begin a long &ldquo;chain of grants&rdquo; via its own 1986 recording contract with Azor.






&ldquo;When correctly interpreted, the 1986 agreements together should be read to mean that the copyrights originated with **Salt-N-Pepa**, and then were transferred to Noise in the Attic, then Next Plateau, next to London, and eventually to UMG,&rdquo; writes Busch. &ldquo;Because Section 203 expressly contemplates that terminations would be binding and effective against successors in interest, and because the seminal grant of rights came from the authors (**Salt-N-Pepa**), their termination notices are effective to terminate UMG&rsquo;s rights reverting them to **Salt-N-Pepa**.&rdquo;






**Salt-N-Pepa&rsquo;s** brief also zooms out to alert the Second Circuit to some bigger picture concerns in the duo&rsquo;s appeal. Busch writes that Congress created termination rights &ldquo;to rectify the imbalance of bargaining power that all artists face when negotiating with entities to exploit their works&rdquo; &mdash; and that the rap duo&rsquo;s 1986 record deal memorialized this exact type of imbalance.

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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JULY 02: (L-R) Sandra Denton and Cheryl James of Salt-N-Pepa perform onstage during day 3 of the 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture™ at Caesars Superdome on July 02, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for ESSENCE)