Pre-1972 Artists Object To Cumulus Bankruptcy Plan

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ABS Entertainment, Barnaby Records, Brunswick Records, and Malaco have jointly filed an objection to Cumulus’ reorganization plan. These four companies say they have exclusive ownership rights to recordings from Al Green, Jimmy Buffett, Ray Stevens, the Everly Brothers and others and claim Cumulus has not obtained performance rights licenses or paid public performance royalties for recordings prior to 1972 and is exploiting the pre-1972 recordings for profit.

The filing claims Cumulus “reproduced and copied, and continues to reproduce and copy, pre-1972 recordings to one or more servers and storage devices, and use technology or systems that result in one or more copies of pre-1972 recordings being distributed to their users’ computers or storage devices.”

The companies claim Cumulus, as a result of their improper and illegal conduct, has earned at least $4 million that rightfully belongs to the copyright owners.

In addition, according to the objection, the copyright owners are but a few of a large number of similarly situated persons whose rights with respect to pre-1972 recordings Cumulus continues to infringe. “Taking into account all similarly situated persons, Cumulus has reaped hundreds of millions of dollars that rightfully belong to owners of pre-1972 recordings.”

The filing says the violations are ongoing and damages continue to mount.

3 COMMENTS

    • No hits, but his first record label was Barnaby. His first radio hit was Come Monday in 1974.

      This is the same group that sued CBS a couple years ago and CBS responded by saying it plays the remastered versions of the songs, not the pre-1972 originals. The judge ruled that the versions CBS played were covered by federal copyright.

  1. The performance royalties they’re talking about only apply to online streaming. The pre-1972 rules don’t apply to on air radio. On air licensing is covered by BMI and ASCAP.

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