Dixie Chicks [ tickets ] filed a countersuit against Sony Music Entertainment in a New York court Monday (8/27), alleging that Sony has withheld more than $4 million in royalties and accusing the label of "systematic thievery."

In the suit, the group accuses Sony of breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO).

Dixie Chicks filed the suit in response to a suit filed by Sony earlier this summer. Sony is accusing Dixie Chicks of breach of contract, and seeks to prevent Dixie Chicks from signing to a new label. Citing a company policy of not commenting on pending litigation, a Sony spokeswoman declined comment on the suit.

"This is about people keeping their word," Dixie Chicks said in a statement. "We’re good for ours and we expected Sony to be good for theirs. We were dumbfounded to hear that Sony recently publicly stated that they ‘respect’ us, after they have gone to such extremes not to pay us what they contractually owe us. We refuse to sit back and silently endorse this behavior simply because this is ‘standard’ practice at Sony. Surely all businesses are not conducted in this manner. Frankly, what they are doing, not just to us but to other artists on the label, give this industry a bad reputation. We got tired of having to beat down the doors and send letter upon letter every time Sony breached our contract."

According to the country trio's suit, Dixie Chicks have sold over 19 million copies of its two albums on Sony, and have brought in more than $175 million in revenue to the company.