Record Labels Sue Sirius XM Over the Use of Older Music

Feb. 15, 1972 is when federal copyright protection began to apply to recordings. But a recent string of lawsuits argue that licensing issues tied to that date may be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to singers and record labels. If the suits are successful, they could also bring a headache of liability to satellite and Internet radio services.

The three largest record companies — Sony, Universal and Warner, along with ABKCO, an independent that controls many of the Rolling Stones’ early music rights — sued Sirius XM Radio in a California court, saying that the satellite service used recordings from before 1972 without permission. Even though federal copyright protection does not apply to these recordings, the suits say that they are still covered by state law. The suit is the third major complaint filed against Sirius XM in five weeks. The band the Turtles — whose song “Happy Together” was a No. 1 hit in 1967 — and the royalty agency SoundExchange filed similar suits last month, each seeking as much as $100 million in damages. The suit filed on Sept 11, in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages and a declaratory judgment about the rights involved in pre-1972 recordings.