Sony sued by 19 Recordings, creator of 'American Idol,' for $10 million worth of damages

American Idol is one of the few competitive shows on television that has been able to maintain its longevity, 12 years to be exact, but apparently there's been some funny business going on with Sony Music.

19 Recordings, the creator of American Idol, filed a lawsuit Thursday against the music group claiming that contestants of the show have essentially been robbed of their royalties.

"We did not want to have to file this lawsuit, but Sony left us no choice, so this became necessary to protect our artists," says 19 Entertainment worldwide head of music Jason Morey. "Our complaint lays out the claims in great detail. Everything we have to say about the case is set forth in it."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Recordings is seeking at least $10 million in damages.

The lawsuit comes after 19 exercised the right to audit Sony's books pursuant to recording agreements, and the parties couldn't come to any settlement.

Other allegations against Sony in the lawsuit say that the music group made improper deductions over things like music videos, has incorrectly paid royalties on joint venture compilation albums, has improperly calculated escalated royalty rates in instances of more-than-a-million-selling albums, is failing to pay over money from past lawsuits, is improperly deducting foreign income taxes, is underreporting or not reporting at all synchronization master uses in films and TV shows.

The lawsuit lists Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks, Clay Aiken and Chris Daughtry as some of the contestants that were cheated out of their royalties.