On November 28, 2016, a proposed settlement was finally announced in the class suit between satellite radio giant, SiriusXM, and the American rock band, The Turtles, in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The class suit, which was originally filed in 2014 by band members Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, accused the company of not properly compensating artists for airplay of music recorded prior to 1972.
SiriusXM had previously been operating under an obscure loophole to the federal Copyright Act of 1976 that technically allowed for sound recordings produced and recorded prior to 1972 to fall outside the scope of federal copyright law. The Act gives federal copyright protection to all sound recordings produced after February 15, 1972, leaving all sound recordings produced prior to 1972 under the jurisdiction of state law. Due to the state law nature of the pre-1972 recordings, Plaintiffs have also filed class claims against SiriusXM in New York and Florida, which are still pending, in addition to California.
The proposed settlement calls for SiriusXM to pay a minimum of $25 million to artists for its past use of pre-1972 recordings without permission. Under the proposed settlement, the defendant would also agree to a 10-year license for recordings by artists in the class with a 5.5% royalty rate.
The scope of the class includes owners of any recordings that pre-date February 15, 1972 that have been played by SiriusXM without permission. However, the class in this suit is mainly geared towards independent artists and smaller record labels, as SiriusXM settled claims in 2015 with major artists and record labels for $210 million for its use of their pre-1972 songs. A hearing for preliminary settlement approval has been scheduled for January 30, 2017.
