COMPANY TOWN ANNEX

Record Label in Lawsuit: Sub Pop, the Seattle-based record label that launched the careers of such famous grunge rock acts as Nirvana and Soundgarden, filed a $12-million fraud lawsuit against Caroline Records in U.S. District Court in New York. The claim charges that Caroline, which is owned by British conglomerate Thorn-EMI, has systematically skimmed proceeds collected from retailers and cheated Sub Pop out of millions of dollars since 1991, when the two companies signed a manufacturing and distribution deal. Representatives for New York-based Caroline could not be reached for comment.