Sirius XM Settles Royalty Dispute Over Old Recordings

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Sirius XM, the satellite radio service, will pay $210 million to the major record labels to settle a lawsuit over royalties for old recordings, the company announced. The deal, reached with Sony, Universal and Warner, the three largest music conglomerates -- along with ABKCO, an independent that controls the rights to early Rolling Stones songs, among others -- is the first such agreement over an obscure copyright matter that has become a closely watched issue in the industry: royalties for recordings made before 1972.

As part of the agreement, Sirius XM said, it can enter into new licenses with the labels to play older songs through 2022. Sirius XM estimated that the major labels and ABKCO control the rights to “approximately 80 percent of the pre-1972 recordings we have historically used.”


Sirius XM Settles Royalty Dispute Over Old Recordings Sirius to pay $210M to settle lawsuit over oldies (USA Today)