New York’s highest appeals court ruled on Tuesday (READ THE RULING) that companies like SiriusXM do not have to pay for pre-1972 recordings over the air. Record labels and musicians have been battling in court for years over whether radio stations and streamers must pay for the older songs. Songs recorded before 1972 are not protected by federal copyright so bands have been taking their battle to the states. The court ruled that New York’s common law doesn’t protect the public performance of pre-1972 sound recordings.
New York appeals court justice Leslie Stein said, “It would be illogical to conclude that the right of public performance would have existed for decades without the courts recognizing such a right as a matter of state common law, and in the absence of any artist or record company attempting to enforce that right in this state until now.”
Flo & Eddie of the band The Turtles have been aggressively pursing payments for pre-1972 recordings. This is their first setback in the battle.
Back in November, Sirius agreed to pay $100 million for pre-1972 recordings. Sirius agreed to pay between $25 million and $40 million for past royalties, depending on the outcomes of other litigation, in three states (New York, Florida, and California). SiriusXM also entered into a 10-year license agreement that could be worth between $45.5 million and $59.2 million.
