The longstanding lawsuit against the all-boy band ‘N Sync by the group’s former guru and BMG Entertainment has finally been settled out of court.
After months of vicious verbal attacks and legal gunslinging, a settlement was announced late yesterday afternoon.
“All parties involved are extremely pleased with the speedy resolution of this matter,” said ‘N Sync, BMG, Louis Pearlman’s Trans Continental and the Zomba Group in a written statement.
“‘N Sync will be able to build on the international success they have enjoyed with BMG and Trans Continental through a new worldwide recording contract with the Zomba Group’s Jive Records,” the parties continued.
‘N Sync will also have the right to control its own name, the statement said.
And, in a coup for Strauss Zelnick’s BMG, Jive Records has extended its distribution agreement with the music giant for North America.
“It’s a sweet deal for BMG,” said one music insider, who said the 5½ percent market share that Jive’s artists — ‘N Sync, Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears — contribute to BMG will “not be going anywhere.”
The source also said BMG will get “significant royalties” from ‘N Sync’s future releases.
The group that belts out such chart-topping tunes as “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” will release a new album, “No Strings Attached” on Jive Records on March 7, 2000.
Further details of the settlement were not released, as all sides signed a confidentiality agreement.
However, one source close to the negotiations said, “There’s something in there for everybody.”
It is still unclear what role Pearlman will play in the band’s future. One insider speculated the man who put the teen rockers together and who had previously been considered a sixth member of the band — when it came to financial arrangements — gave up that “sixth member” status in the deal.
“I think he got a big chunk of money and will hold weight in ‘N Sync’s licensing and merchandising deals,” the source told The Post.
The boy-band brouhaha began in October, when the five-member group ditched its contract with Pearlman’s company and signed a multi-album recording contract with Jive.
The Orlando, Fla.-based Pearlman and RCA parent BMG filed a $150 million breach-of-contract suit against the band and Jive, asking the court to prevent the pop sensations from using their name or releasing any recordings.
In response, the boys asserted: “Pearlman is an unscrupulous, greedy and sophisticated businessman who posed as an unselfish, loving father figure and took advantage of our trust.”
But when the case finally made it to a Florida court in November, the judge appointed a magistrate to oversee settlement talks and said that in the meantime, the teen heartthrobs could go ahead and release a record with Jive.