'American Idol' files lawsuit against Sony Music for 'robbing' Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and more of millions

According to a new lawsuit filed by American Idol (and its record label 19 Recordings) against Sony Music, the major record label has been "robbing" the artists from the television series of millions of dollars. The list of artists affected by Sony's "robbery" includes Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson and other past performers that moved on to recording careers.

"Such exploitation can only be fairly described as 'transmissions' or 'broadcasts,' and, upon information and belief, are so described in the licenses or other agreements between Sony and the streaming services," the lawsuit states. "However, Sony has nevertheless accounted to 19 for all streaming income received at the lower Album rate as if the exploitation between the streaming service and the end user was described as a 'distribution' or 'sale' and, by so doing, Sony has breached the Recording Agreements."

The Hollywood Reporter reports:

The lawsuit says that Sony takes advantage by pretty much always delivering answers in its favor -- or, as the case may be, treating downloaded tracks as singles as much as possible. The plaintiff says this is unfair because there are no extra manufacturing, marketing or promotional costs associated with individual songs available for purchase separately. For its part, Sony claims that it has overpaid royalty participants on digital track downloads, according to the suit.

"We did not want to have to file this lawsuit, but Sony left us no choice, so this became necessary to protect our artists," 19 Entertainment Worldwide Head of Music Jason Morey said. "Our complaint lays out the claims in great detail. Everything we have to say about the case is set forth in it."