Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker Says He Was "Surprised" by Royalties Lawsuit

Earlier this month, a lawsuit was filed over missing royalties owed to Tame Impala. BMG, the rights management organization that handles the band’s music, alleged that Tame Impala’s former label, Modular, and the label’s founder, Steve “Pav” Pavlovic, along with Universal Music Group and Universal Music Australia, failed to make quarterly payments. BMG is seeking damages of at least $450,000. Now, in an interview with The Music (via NME), the band’s Kevin Parker said he didn’t know the lawsuit was going to be filed. 

“When it actually hit the surface, and everyone knew about it, I was as surprised,” he told The Music. I didn’t know they were going to sue anyone, I didn’t know there was going to be any suing going on, so I was as surprised and interested as anyone.” 

He added: “I knew there was some stuff going on, obviously, and we knew it was going to happen, we knew something was on the horizon… We just didn’t know what was going to happen with it. As far as I was concerned I’d written off that side of things, I’d heard that some money had gone missing, blah blah blah, that’s all I really thought about it.”

In the interview, Parker admitted a lack of familiarity with the nuances of the lawsuit. He also said he’s “doing fine” and described himself as a spectator as the lawsuit plays out. “Whilst it is naive that I don’t give a shit about that much money that’s gone missing, I just find it counter-productive to get worked up over it,” he said. “They’re just gonna battle it out and do their thing.”

Tame Impala’s new album, Currents, is out July 17. 

Watch the band perform “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” for Pitchfork.tv:

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