Los Lobos Sues Sony Over Song Royalties From ‘La Bamba,’ ‘Desperado’ Movie Soundtracks: ‘Egregious’

Grammy-winning Chicano rock band Los Lobos alleges in a pair of recent lawsuits that Sony has underpaid royalties on songs it recorded for the 1987 Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba and 1995 Antonio Banderas western Desperado.

The legal complaints target different branches of the Japanese media conglomerate; one names Sony Pictures Entertainment and its subsidiary studio Columbia Pictures, while the other goes after Sony Music Entertainment. Together, the two lawsuits seek at least $1.5 million in contractual damages.

The Sony Pictures case, brought in Los Angeles court in November, alleges that there’s a “massive deficiency” in Los Lobos’ royalties from the La Bamba soundtrack. The movie, starring Lou Diamond Phillips as Valens and distributed by Columbia Pictures, featured multiple Los Lobos covers, including a cover of Valens’ “La Bamba,” which spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Plaintiff’s representatives have recently discovered that no royalties for streaming exploitation of the recordings have ever been paid to Los Lobos for any country outside of the United States and Canada,” reads the lawsuit.

Los Lobos alleges that Sony Pictures is to blame for this underpayment because the movie company handles non-U.S. and Canada royalty accounting for the La Bamba soundtrack. The band says it sent a notice of breach in October, but to no avail.

The Sony Music lawsuit, meanwhile, was filed last month but transferred to federal court on Friday (Jan. 9). This case focuses on the 1995 film Desperado, for which Los Lobos recorded the song “Canción del Mariachi” alongside Banderas, the movie’s star.

The band alleges it just learned that it has never been paid any streaming royalties for “Canción del Mariachi,” which was put on digital platforms by the Sony Music imprint Milan Records. This issue is “even more egregious,” says Los Lobos, because the song’s streams skyrocketed after mixed martial artist Ilia “El Matador” Topuria made it his walkout anthem in recent years.

“Despite the specific knowledge that the popularity of the recording was spiking and reaching new audiences, Sony and Milan still paid nothing to Los Lobos for streaming, and continues to pay nothing, for streaming anywhere in the world or for any time period,” reads the lawsuit.

“Canción del Mariachi” charted for the first time this summer, hitting No. 11 on the Billboard Latin Digital Song Sales chart.  

A spokesperson for Sony Music declined to comment on the matter on Friday. Reps for Sony Pictures did not immediately return a request for comment.