Argentinan Singer Sues Universal Over Alleged Illegal Distribution of His Music

Argentinian singer Ricardo Montaner, born Hector Reglero, has filed suit against Universal Music Group in federal court in Florida, accusing the company of continuing to distribute his music without permission long after a licensing agreement with one of its subsidiaries had expired.

According to the complaint, Universal wrongly operated as though it still held distribution rights to Montaner's catalog even after the underlying deal lapsed, and in doing so, interfered with a new distribution arrangement Montaner struck with another label. The singer is seeking at least $1 million in damages, along with a court declaration confirming that he, not Universal, owns the rights to his recordings.

At the center of the dispute is a 2001 distribution agreement Montaner signed with Universal Music Venezuela, a UMG subsidiary. The singer maintains that the deal never granted Universal ownership of his music, only distribution rights, and that it had no fixed end date. That subsidiary was dissolved in December 2022, and Montaner argues that its dissolution effectively terminated the agreement. He says he formally notified Universal of the termination in July 2024, but the company disputed that the notice was valid, prompting Montaner to send a second termination letter in March 2024.

The roots of the ownership dispute trace back decades. Montaner's complaint recounts that in 1986 he signed with the Venezuelan label Love Records LR CA and recorded five albums under that deal. A falling-out followed, and in 1993 the two sides reached a settlement, referred to in the suit by the Spanish legal term "finiquito," under which Montaner says he regained full ownership of those recordings.

The singer also signed a related agreement that year with an affiliated company, Love Music SA, which he says further cemented his control over the material. Montaner claims that Universal Music Venezuela later asserted, through a chain of corporate acquisitions, that it had inherited rights to his catalog under that 1993 settlement, a claim he disputes was ever properly established, even as he went on to sign the 2001 distribution deal with the company.

After sending Universal his termination notices, Montaner says he granted exclusive distribution rights for his catalog to Montaner Legacy Music LLC, a company he controls. Legacy, in turn, licensed those rights in June 2025 to Warner Music Latina, operating as ADA Latin, based in Miami Beach. But the lawsuit alleges that in April and May of this year, a separate UMG subsidiary, Universal Music Publishing Venezuela, sent letters to ADA Latin asserting that it, not Montaner, held the rights to his albums.

Montaner argues that both Universal subsidiaries lost whatever rights they may have had when the 2001 agreement terminated in 2024, and that neither company owns his music or controls any entity that does. He contends that the continued assertions of ownership threaten to unravel his agreement with ADA Latin unless a court intervenes. His legal team points to both Venezuelan and Florida law to bolster the termination claim, arguing that contracts without a defined duration, particularly those involving ongoing performance obligations, can be ended unilaterally by either party after a reasonable period of notice.

The complaint asks the court to declare Montaner and his affiliated companies the rightful copyright holders of the disputed albums, a ruling he argues would resolve Universal's demands against ADA Latin and allow distribution of his music to continue uninterrupted.

The singer also seeks compensation for royalties he states were never paid over the life of the 2001 agreement, which he describes as a "willful" default by both Universal Music Venezuela and its parent company.