Chris Cornell’s wife, Vicky Cornell, is suing Soundgarden over proposed buyout offer

Chris Cornell’s widow Vicky Cornell has filed a new lawsuit against the surviving members of Soundgarden, Variety points out. According to court documents reviewed by Pitchfork, Vicky Cornell claims she received less than $ 300,000 from the remaining members of the band: Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Hunter Benedict Shepherd. The complaint, filed yesterday (Feb. 16) in a U.S. district court in Seattle, calls the buyout offer “an outrageously low figure.” Cornell is committed to a judicial valuation of Chris Cornell’s interest in Soundgarden’s assets, including merchandise and future touring income.

The lawsuit alleges that Soundgarden’s buyout offer was not made in good faith, and that the proposed amount “is not equal to the royalties Vicky received from Soundgarden’s master recordings in 2018 alone.” The complaint added that Soundgarden made their buyout offer to Cornell after they received an offer from a music investor, who offered to purchase Soundgarden’s master recordings for $ 16 million alone.

Cornell’s complaint states she was forced to sue after making two counter-offers to the band. On December 17, 2020, she offered Thayil, Cameron and Shepherd $ 4 million each for their collective interests in Soundgarden. The band then declined the offer, stating they had no interest in it “because these interests represent their creative life’s work.” Cornell then offered each member $ 7 million, which they declined.

The lawsuit alleges that a good faith valuation would “ explain the band’s significant earnings from merchandise sales and the lucrative, nostalgic projects that follow the passing of rock and roll icons, for example, future tours with a lead singer. (as Queen did by replacing Freddie Mercury with Adam Lambert); posthumous concert performances by a hologram of Chris (as Tupac Shakur, Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley have performed with profit); and deeply fake renditions of Chris’ vocals, taken from existing artificial intelligence recordings, which could create brand new Soundgarden hits. “

Because Vicky Cornell and the rest of Soundgarden cannot agree on Chris Cornell’s interest in the band’s assets, Vicky Cornell seeks a judicial determination of the buyout price.

Vicky Cornell’s attorney Marty Singer made the following statement to Pitchfork:

The band’s claim that this dispute is somehow not about the money for them is absurd and hypocritical. This, of course, is about money and their greed. They received an offer from a third party to buy only a portion of their stakes for $ 16 million, and then offered to buy out Chris’s interest for just $ 278,000. And then Vicky offered $ 21 million for their stock, which they declined – not because they wanted to keep their life’s work, but because they know they will benefit even more from future exploitation of the music Chris wrote and the legacy he created. (which has been in their pockets for years).

A Soundgarden representative wrote:

As requested by the Estate of Chris Cornell and as required by Washington State law, the surviving members of Soundgarden submitted a buyout offer to Cornell Estate four months ago for the Estate’s interests in Soundgarden calculated on the basis of respected valuation the music industry. expert Gary Cohen.

Since then, the band members have continued to try to resolve all disputes with the Cornell Estate, and in their various attempts to find a solution, the band members have opted to bid multiple times more than the amount charged by Cohen. This dispute was never about money for the band. This is their life’s work and their legacy.

In December 2019, Vicky Cornell sued the remaining members of Soundgarden for missing royalty payments. Last February, the band filed a response stating that the recordings associated with those royalties are owned by the band.