Grand Royal was the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

-based vanity record label set up in 1992 by rap group

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar, programming) ...

in conjunction with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of not ...

after the group left

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

. ''Grand Royal'' was also the name of a magazine written and published by the group. Described as a publication that "came to define part of Generation X," the total distribution of the six issues of ''Grand Royal'' was estimated at 300,000 copies. Due to mounting debts, Grand Royal went out of business in 2001. Its assets were sold off via auction on Bid4Assets; these assets did not include any rights to Beastie Boys music. The assets and back catalog were purchased by a group of fans who in turn started GR2 Records. In 2016, GR2 sold the rights and master recordings of Grand Royal's second release ''My Crazy Life'' to a member of the band

Dead Fucking Last Dead Fucking Last (also known as DFL) is an American punk rock band that was founded in 1991 in Los Angeles, California by Tom Davis, Monty Messex, Adam (Ad-Rock) Horovitz and Tony Converse. History Grand Royal Records DFL was founded in 1991 ...

. In 2017, Stiletto Entertainment, the company that currently owns GR2, was sued by dance-punk band

Liquid Liquid Liquid Liquid is an American no wave and dance-punk group, originally active from 1980 to 1983. They are best known for their track "Cavern," which was covered—without proper permission or attribution—by the Sugar Hill Records house band as ...

for

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

, and not paying them royalties over the unauthorized licensing of their music and sales of the 2008 reissue of their 1997 compilation ''Liquid Liquid'', which was originally distributed by Grand Royal.

References

American record labels Record labels established in 1992 Record labels disestablished in 2001 1992 establishments in California 2001 disestablishments in California Vanity record labels Alternative rock record labels Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Beastie Boys Capitol Records {{US-record-label-stub

See also

References