Photo Credit: Los Lobos for the Montgomery County Planning Commission / CC by 2.0
Los Lobos and Sony Music have agreed to dismiss the band’s lawsuit against the major, having reached a settlement in the alleged breach of contract.
On Friday, court documents reveal that Los Lobos’ lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment over royalties for the band’s song “Canción del Mariachi,” featured in the Antonio Banderas film Desperado, has been dismissed. The two parties jointly agreed to dismiss the lawsuit after reaching a settlement. However, the terms of that settlement remain undisclosed.
Los Lobos originally filed the lawsuit in California state court before Sony filed a motion to move it to New York federal court. The filing alleged that Sony Music owed a combined total of at least $1.5 million in contractual damages. It also accused the label of failing to pay royalties for the streaming use of their recordings in two films, the Antonio Banderas Western flick Desperado (1995) and the Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba (1987).
“Despite the specific knowledge that the popularity of the recording was spiking and reaching new audiences, Sony and (affiliate imprint) Milan still paid nothing to Los Lobos for streaming, and continues to pay nothing for streaming anywhere in the world for any time period,” the initial filing claimed.
Back in February, Sony Music broadly denied any wrongdoing or liability.
Separately, the band’s lawsuit against Sony Pictures Entertainment and Columbia Pictures over unpaid international streaming royalties (non-U.S. and non-Canadian streams) for the double-platinum La Bamba soundtrack remains ongoing. That case was filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles.
The album includes several Los Lobos covers, including their famous version of Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba,” which spent several weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. It played a crucial role in establishing the band across a much wider audience.
According to lawyers for Sony Pictures, the company “promptly” sent $17,000 in foreign streaming royalties to the band, plus interest, in January, totaling $22,000. However, the band claims that more money is still owed. Thus, the case is still in mediation.
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