Editing Alternative Tentacles (section)

==Controversies==

In 1985, Los Angeles prosecutors charged Biafra with "distributing harmful matter to minors" for artwork contained in the [[Dead Kennedys]] album ''[[Frankenchrist]]''. The artwork was a poster reproduction of the painting "[[Work 219: Landscape XX]]", also known as "Penis Landscape" by [[H.R. Giger]]. The case ended in a hung jury and charges were not re-filed. Biafra presented a detailed account of the trial on his second spoken word album, ''[[High Priest of Harmful Matter − Tales from the Trial]]''.

In 1994 in the wake of the punk zine ''[[Maximum Rocknroll]]'' taking Alternative Tentacles to task over Alternative Tentacles and Dead Kennedys working with [[EMI]]-owned distributor Caroline through Mordam, and banning ads and reviews from the label, Jello Biafra was assaulted at the [[924 Gilman Street|Gilman St. music club]] in [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]], California, by a group of people chanting “Rich Rock Star”. 

<blockquote>"Of course, it was easy to label me as a sell-out because I was part of the neighborhood," says Biafra of the MRR row. "It was one crab trying to pull another crab back in the bucket. For me, using a major distributor is more like the martial arts principle of using the enemy's strength against them. I want my work to be available in remote small towns and cultural ghettos. People have to have that opportunity."<ref>{{cite web |title= Label of love: Alternative Tentacles |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/mar/09/label-love-alternative-tentacles |website=theguardian.com|date=March 2009}}</ref></blockquote>

In early 2000, the label and Biafra were named in a lawsuit brought by his former Dead Kennedys bandmates. The suit claimed that Biafra had failed to pay the band's members a decade's worth of royalties on the band's albums, totaling some $76,000.<ref>Dead Kennedys v. Biafra, 46 F.Supp.2d 1028 (1999)</ref> 

All sides agreed the initial underpayment of royalties was due to an accounting error and Biafra himself had also not been paid from those royalties. However, the jury ultimately ruled that Alternative Tentacles and Biafra were "guilty of [[Malice (law)|malice]], [[shareholder oppression|oppression]] and [[fraud]]" by not promptly informing his former bandmates of the matter and instead withholding the information during subsequent discussions and contractual negotiations. The other Dead Kennedys members only learned of the royalty underpayment from a [[whistleblower]] at the record label. 

A 2003 appeal upheld the verdict and judgment against Biafra and the record label of $200,000 in compensation and [[punitive damages]]. The result of the case saw the rights to the Dead Kennedys albums turned over to Decay Music, a partnership of all four members of the band (including Biafra himself), the majority of which voted to pull the records from Alternative Tentacles and license them to [[Manifesto Records]] in the United States (and to other labels in the rest of the world). This was a blow to Alternative Tentacles, leading to financial uncertainty for the label.<ref>[http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/jello-biafra-gets-shot-down-by-dead-kennedys/  JELLO BIAFRA Gets Shot Down By DEAD KENNEDYS] Blabbermouth.com, accessed January 3, 2017</ref>

In 2009 while speaking to ''[[The Guardian]]'', Biafra described losing the Kennedys from Alternative Tentacles as "like getting some of your limbs blown off". 

<blockquote>"I've used my own money to keep the label afloat. Now many of our label peers are down to one or two employees or pulling the plug altogether. That scares the living shit out of me in some ways, but I think we're better equipped because we already know how to survive hard times. It got awfully tempting to just crack up once and for all and turn into [[Syd Barrett]] after what they did to me," he admits. "But I have so many unrecorded songs and ideas that I can't not continue to make new work."</blockquote>