Radio & Music News Weekly
SoundExchange Sues AccuRadio Over Unpaid Royalties
SOUNDEXCHANGE has filed a lawsuit against the online radio service ACCURADIO for alleged unpaid royalties owed to performers and rights owners.
SOUNDEXCHANGE is the only organization designated by the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS to administer the statutory license specified in Section 114 of the COPYRIGHT ACT, collect digital performance royalties from licensees, and distribute those royalties to performing artists and copyright owners.
SOUNDEXCHANGE President/CEO MICHAEL HUPPE said, “ACCURADIO has directly harmed creators over the years by refusing to pay royalties for the use of protected recordings. Today, SOUNDEXCHANGE is standing up for creators through this lawsuit to protect the value of music and ensure creators are compensated fairly for their work. We hope ACCURADIO will immediately reverse course and pay what they owe for the use of the music that sits at the foundation of its service.”
ACCURADIO had been paying royalties for the recordings it was using. In 2016 payments slowed and stopped altogether in 2018. SOUNDEXCHANGE has been in negotiations with ACCURADIO since that time to resolve their outstanding balance. Allegedly, ACCURADIO has failed to fulfil the terms to which the parties had agreed upon.
SOUNDEXCHANGE collects and distributes digital performance royalties on behalf of more than 700,000 music creators. The organization has paid more than $11 billion in distributions to date.
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