Bad Boy Chiller Crew sue former label, claiming £400,000 in unpaid royalties

Bad Boy Chiller Crew have filed a claim at the UK High Court against their former label House Anxiety, claiming that they are owed around £400,000 in unpaid royalties.

In the court filings, the Bradford bassline-rap trio have alleged that their deal with the label was meant that they should have received royalty payments every six months, but only received their first payment in October 2024, four years after they signed to House Anxiety, according to BBC reporting.

They claim that the payment they did receive had “vast sums” deducted, while a £217,000 licensing deal with a Sony subsidiary had not been taken into account.

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Bad Boy Chiller Crew said in a statement: “Like all other bands, we don’t look for litigation, but when faced with a label that won’t let us put our own music out ourselves for our fans and not pay us royalties owed from our own music, we felt we had no other option.”

House Anxiety deny the allegations. Founder Jamie Hodgson told the BBC: “We totally refute these claims and welcome the opportunity to clarify these inaccuracies.

“As an artist-friendly independent label, we remain hugely proud of every element of ‘Full Wack No Breaks’ and all the hard work that went into its campaign, then stepping aside to allow BBCC to pursue their dreams of being a major label artist,” he continued.

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“There will be no further comment at this time.”

In June, Bad Boy Chiller Crew independently released an EP titled ‘Summer 24’, as well as a handful of singles, but the tracks were removed from Spotify after House Anxiety claimed that it was in breach of their contract.

Isaac Muk is a freelance writer, follow him on Bluesky