According to the suit, the trio -- Natalie Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Seidel -- wanted to renegotiate a more lucrative contract with Sony, after the success of their first two albums. The group's debut, 1998's Wide Open Spaces, reached Diamond status with sales of more than 10 million, and the follow-up, 1999's Fly has been certified eight times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Sony claims that the group's contract includes as many as four additional albums to be delivered.

"We filed this complaint to confirm that the Dixie Chicks remain signed to an exclusive recording contract with Sony Music," reads a statement issued by Sony Music. "We take great pride in the work we've done in establishing the Dixie Chicks as the most popular and biggest selling female country group of all time. We have tremendous respect for all of the Dixie Chicks, as well as for their extraordinary music."

The Dixie Chicks had no comment on the dispute at press time.

ANDREW DANSBY
(July 18, 2001)

The Chicks' suit alleges breach of their recording agreement, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, claming that the company has withheld millions in royalties.

On July 17th, Sony released a statement that read: "We filed this complaint to confirm that the Dixie Chicks remain signed to an exclusive recording contract with Sony Music. We take great pride in the work we've done in establishing the Dixie Chicks as the most popular and biggest-selling female country group of all time. We have tremendous respect for all of the Dixie Chicks, as well as for their extraordinary music."

The band responded: "We were dumbfounded to hear that Sony recently publicly stated that they 'respect' us, after they have gone to such extremes not to pay us what they contractually owe us. Surely all businesses are not conducted in this manner. Frankly, what they are doing, not just to us but to other artists on the label, gives this industry a bad reputation. We got tired of having to beat down the doors and send letter upon letter every time Sony breached our contract. It threatened to take us away from doing what we love, making music."

The Chicks -- Natalie Maines Pasdar, Marti Siedel and Emily Robison -- say that their albums, 1998's Wide Open Places and 1999's Fly, have generated $175 million.

ANDREW DANSBY
(August 28, 2001)