Linkin Park are being sued by a former bandmate who claims to have never been paid for his alleged involvement in their debut album Hybrid Theory.
The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the Central District of California earlier this week by former bassist Kyle Christner. He claims to have “collaborated on and recorded numerous songs with the band” during their early days, and although he wasn’t creditted on the album, Christner believes he’s owed royalties for his contribution.
Christner’s lawsuit relates to the 20th-anniversary edition of the 1999 album, which he claims contains his bass parts “many tracks” including the previously unreleased song ‘Could Have Been.’
He claims to have never been paid a “penny for his work with Linkin Park, nor has he been properly credited, even as [his former bandmates] have benefited from his creative efforts.”
The bassist claims to have been contacted by the band’s management earlier this year to “discuss some royalties due from the Hybrid Theory 20th Anniversary release.” This was reportedly due to the “mechanical royalties for 3 demos and the 6-song Hybrid Theory EP that you performed on.”
However, the contact made Christner dig deeper and claim that he deserved to be paying for his contribution for more tracks. In response, Linkin Park’s management played down his involvement with the box set but did make a “possible exception” for ‘Could Have Been’.
In total, Christner claims he played on ten tracks on Forgotten Demos, seven songs on LPU Rarities as well as one track on B-Side Rarities and the Hybrid Theory EP.
The lawsuit alleges: “In other words, after admitting that Christner played on at least some tracks included in the box set and admitting that Christner was entitled to at least some ‘mechanical’ royalties, which are royalties paid for compositions, Defendants repudiated Christner’s co-authorship and co-owne
This is a developing story.
