January 23, 2012
Cast members from the first Les Misérables have been told that they will no longer receive royalties for their contributions to the original cast album after it was revealed that their contract contained a clause stating that royalties would only be paid for 25 years. Les Misérables is the World’s longest running musical having premiered in 1985. In the UK alone hundreds of thousands of copies of the original cast album have sold since it was released. The union who acted on behalf of the actors when the contract was signed was Equity and they are seeking legal advice at to whether First Night Records, the company which owns the recording are able to enforce the clause limiting the payment of royalties to 25 years. The news of the clause preventing the payment of future royalties has apparently come as a shock to the original cast members. Michael Ball who was one of the original performers said on Twitter that “First night records. You cannot be serious. Not sure if legal…but moral? I think not." Another actor from the original cast, Peter Polycarpou said in an interview with the Independent on Sunday that the news was a “bit of a shock” and added: “It’s simply not morally right to keep the royalties back after only a 25-year period.” John Craig, the managing director of First Night Records said: “The beef that the players have should be with Equity and not with us…Their union signed a silly contract.” “I feel quite bitter that Equity sign a contract and then moan like crazy when we stand behind the terms of it,” he added.