Kyle Chistner, the bassist of Linkin Park 25 years ago (for a maximum of eight months), is filing a lawsuit against the band. Christner accuses the band members; Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, and Joseph Hahn, of allegedly not paying him for the few tracks he was on in 1999. Christner also mentioned the Warner Records label and Machine Shop Entertainment in the lawsuit.
An unnamed former manager told Kyle Christner he is owed royalties for three demo recordings on Hybrid Theory as his bass playing appeared on the 20th-anniversary box set of said album. However, Christner is unhappy with this. He claims to have been featured on more than 20 songs regarding Linkin Park.
The current band members are moving forward with dismissing this case and as of March 5 the band has gone ahead with this plan. Linkin Park’s attorney states that Christner’s claim is riddled with faults and the issue he is claiming has “long since passed.” In addition, this is not a new accusation as Kyle Christner has been seeking payment for over 20 years.
The motion that Linkin Park made on Tuesday is also said to include that Christner did not explicitly state which songs he was a part of. The band’s lawyers state, “Defendants cannot reasonably be expected to know how to respond to the [lawsuit] without knowing which copyrights are being addressed.”
Even though Christner claims to have been a reason why Linkin Park got signed to Warner Records and a crucial part of composing their earlier songs, the band is going to continue to dismiss this case and continue working as usual.
Photo Credit: Shareef Ellis
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