SiriusXM Will Have to Defend Multiple Lawsuits over Pre-1972 Music

A lawsuit with the potential to shake up commonly held assumptions about the broadcasting of older music will be staying in California. In response to the first California lawsuit led by members of The Turtles, Sirius argued that the plaintiffs were playing "lawsuit lottery" and sought to have the case transferred to New York and perhaps consolidated.

US District Judge Philip Gutierrez denied Sirius' motion and spoke about the huge stakes involved. The cases against Sirius are premised on the bold notion that Sirius can't rely on statutory royalty rates set up by federal law for pre-1972 songs. The plaintiffs are making the argument that copyright holders on these older tunes maintain control over their public performance rights. But if that's true, why stop at Sirius? Perhaps television and radio broadcasters, restaurant and bar owners, website operators and others also lack valid licenses to perform pre-1972 music.