SoundExchange Sues SiriusXM Over Back Royalty Payments

SoundExchange has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against SiriusXM for alleged underpayment of digital royalties from 2007-2012. The company is accusing SiriusXM of taking inadmissible deductions and exemptions in royalty payment calculations to SoundExchange, including deductions for pre-1972 recordings and music channel packages. It also wants back late fees and interest due from the underpayments as well.
The underpayments are alleged to amount to between 50 and $100 million or more, and is seeking to recover the monies for the artists and labels it represents.
A copy of the official filing can be seen here: soundexchange.com.
The lawsuit is merely the latest in the battle between the two companies. Last year, according to the Hollywood Reporter, SiriusXM sued Soundexchange over an alleged plan to monopolize copyrights from the recording industry. The satellite radio company wanted to make direct deals with rights holders instead. A separate lawsuit was filed earlier this month against SiriusXM by the Turtles over rights usage of their pre-1972 songs, which are not protected under federal law.

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Lorie Hollabaugh

Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at lhollabaugh@musicrow.com.

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