Big Time Rush creator Scott Fellows is suing Sony Music for allegedly cheating him out of the band's reunion tour profits.
Fellows, who created the hit Nickelodeon TV show about a fictional boy band, which ran from 2009 to 2013, has brought a series of breach of contract claims against Sony.
He claims the record label intentionally "concocted a bad faith entity shell game" to cut him out of a 2021 licensing deal that allowed Big Time Rush to reunite as an independent entity, in exchange for 10% of future revenues.
During the show's heyday, the real-life members of Big Time Rush - Kendall Schmidt, James Maslow, Logan Henderson and Carlos PenaVega - released music and toured under a deal with Sony Music.
According to Fellows' lawsuit, he received contractual payments amounting to 3.75% of the band's touring revenue until its members went their separate ways in 2014.
As stated in the complaint, when Big Time Rush reunited in 2021, the group struck a deal to go independent from Nickelodeon and Sony Music. The lawsuit reveals that the band licensed its trademarks and past music from Sony and Nickelodeon in exchange for 10% of future revenues.
Fellows' attorneys allege in the lawsuit that Sony "restructured its inter-company arrangements" and his rights to his share of touring revenue were eliminated.
Fellows is now seeking to recoup his cut of Big Time Rush's 2022 reunion tour, as well as the band's In Real Life world tour, which is scheduled to kick off on 9 July.
