Bruno Mars Sues Music Publisher over Current Contract

Bruno Mars, arguably one of the hottest artists of the moment, is not happy with his current contract. In fact, in court papers filed the other day, he claims music publisher Bug Music it not entitled to 50% of his money because they failed to offer to renew his contract in time.

Mars has filed papers for a lawsuit against the publisher, saying he delivered his end of the bargain and now wants out of his contract, which should have been renewed some time ago, TMZ has learned.

When his current contract was up, Bug had a specified amount of time to reach him with an offer for a renewal, which Mars says never happened.

As such, he just assumed that he and Bug Music were done and that he was free to look for another label.

“Mars has filed a lawsuit against Bug Music, Inc., claiming the company failed to pick up the option on his contract after he delivered an agreed upon number of songs,” TMZ reports.

“In the documents, filed today in L.A. County Superior Court, Mars claims he turned in all of his music by February – at which point, Bug had a certain amount of time to exercise its option to continue the relationship with Mars,” the e-zine further says.

When Bug did not get back to Bruno with said offer, he simply assumed that there was no interest in a renewal of the contract and that he was free.

“According to the docs, the honchos at Bug believe Mars is wrong – and insist he is still under a contract which gives them 50% of the copyrights of any music Bruno makes,” TMZ writes.

“Now, Mars says, he needs a judge to issue a declaration that his contract is in fact over – so he can move on with his career,” the same media outlet explains.

Over the weekend, Bruno Mars proved once more that he is one of the most versatile and talented artists of the day, taking to the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards 2011 to perform “Valerie” as part of the Amy Winehouse Tribute.