Nina Simone's estate accuses The Orchard of piracy

It looks like the dispute between Nina Simone’s estate and Sony Music may be heading back to the courtroom after attorney Steven Ames Brown and the singer’s family filed a motion to rescind the agreement reached with the major label last October following a drawn-out dispute.

Variety reports that the request comes following the discovery that digital distributor The Orchard allegedly distributed to digital stores (including iTunes) over 80 bootleg albums of the late singer without authorisation. 

Sony Music acquired full ownership of The Orchard just a couple of months ago and according to the motion filed knows of the issue but chose to look the other way.

The estate is calling The Orchard “one of the largest pirates in the recorded music industry in America,” which sounds very dramatic to someone that doesn’t know that the company is actually a thriving and legal digital business with offices all over the world. 

The Orchard is unlikely to wilfully distribute recordings it knows were obtained illegally since that would only hurt its overall business, so it will be interesting to see how the company reacts to these allegations and whether the fact that it is now fully owned by Sony will affect its ability to rebuke the allegations directly.

(Andrea Leonelli)