Months after the daughters of Tom Petty filed a lawsuit against the late rocker’s widow, a settlement has finally been reached in regards the control of his catalogue.
Back in October of 2017, music fans were undoubtedly shocked to learn of the passing of Tom Petty.
Having risen to fame during the ’70s with The Heartbreakers, Petty was a musical icon, serving as a solo artist, and collaborating with the likes of Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne as part of The Traveling Wilburys.
While 2018 brought with it a number of intriguing things for Petty’s fans, including a park in his hometown being named after him, and a box set of unreleased music, it seemed as though there was still more left in the vaults.
However, in May of this year, Petty’s daughters – Adria Petty and Annakim Violette – sued the rocker’s widow – Dana York Petty – in regards to how his catalogue is managed.
While Petty’s death left his widow as the trustee of his estate, the outlined terms entitled his daughters to what was described as “equal participation”, effectively seeing them interpret this as meaning they have a two-thirds majority vote in regards to how decisions are made.
Although Dana Petty filed a legal petition to put Tom Petty’s catalogue in the control of a professional manager, Adria Petty filed a seperate petition to gain control, leading to a lawsuit being filed by Petty’s daughters which sought $5 million in damages.
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Check out Tom Petty’s ‘You Wreck Me’:
As Rolling Stone now reports, a settlement has been reached in the lawsuit. While exact details have not been released, it has however resulted in the formation of a new LLC called the Tom Petty Legacy which is set to manage all aspects of his estate.
“Each of them sincerely regrets that in their intense grief over Tom’s tragic death, actions were taken that were hurtful to one another,” the estate explained.
“We are committed to honoring Tom’s voice, music, integrity and his charitable spirit,” explained Dana, Adria, and Annakim in a statement.
“Each member of the family will have equal standing in Tom Petty Legacy, LLC and will work together on all future endeavors. The business will build upon Tom’s 40+ years of great music and his historic career.”
While it’s not clear what the next step is for the Tom Petty estate and the newfound LLC, we can only assume it may focus on some of the releases impacted by the lawsuit.
Although the An American Treasure compilation was eventually released in 2018, a planned 25th anniversary edition of Tom Petty’s Wildflowers was presumably set to be released this year, with its current status remaining unclear.
Check out ‘You Don’t Know How It Feels’ by Tom Petty:
