• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Sirius Loses Pre-1972 Music Case

T

TheBigA

From RadioInk:

In a summary judgment ruling, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez found that SiriusXM violated California state laws by performing, without a license, 15 recordings by the band The Turtles dating from before 1972. This news is as bad as it could have been for the satellite company and other digital-only content providers: It means they may now have to pay even more for their content.

--------

This was a multi-million dollar lawsuit. It obviously will be appealed, but it's not good for broadcasters, or lovers of pre-1972 music. It not only affects Sirius, but Pandora, and all streams of OTA radio stations. I expect that if it's upheld, we'll either see less pre-1972 music on the internet, or there will be a surcharge to access it.
 
At least it gets "Happy Together" out of the saturation rotation it's in on '60s on 6. That's a good thing ... unless eliminates everything else on '60s on 6 too. Do you foresee SXM making its pre-'72 music channels premium and charging an extra fee for access? It's hard to imagine that they'd all be eliminated or -- in the case of '70s on 7, Soul Street, Deep Tracks and Classic Vinyl -- forced to play post-'72 music only.
 
CTListener said:
. Do you foresee SXM making its pre-'72 music channels premium and charging an extra fee for access?
Click to expand...

It all depends what the increased royalty will be, and how it will be assessed. Under the terms of the merger, Sirius is allowed to pass on any royalty rate increases on to the consumer. So I imagine the answer is yes.
 
The Turtles never had 15 hit songs total in their whole career. How could Sirius/XM play 15 pre 1972 Turtles tunes. Or anyone else for that matter.
 
Looks like Sirius stopped playing Turtles songs on 60s on 6 September 23rd.
 
FRR said:
The Turtles never had 15 hit songs total in their whole career. How could Sirius/XM play 15 pre 1972 Turtles tunes. Or anyone else for that matter.
Click to expand...

Pat St. John and Lou Simon will frequently include chart stiffs, B sides, even cuts of songs better known by other artists on their daily (Pat) and weekly (Lou) shows. If the suit goes back to the days of an independent XM, those stiffs were definitely played then.

And yes, the Turtles were banished from all SXM channels after 9/23, not welcome on Deep Tracks or Underground Garage, either. I assume SXM legal eagles will be scouring old American Top 40s. Buried Treasures, even Dylan shows if they're still being run online, and deleting anything by Flo and Eddie and the boys. Whether SXM really thinks that only the Turtles are actually looking for money here -- or that some appeals court will limit the ruling to Turtles music only -- I have no idea. But I guess until the appeals process runs its course, SXM really has no other choice. And even then, the Turtles may remain on the SXM no-play list as SXM files a countersuit against Flo and Eddie to try to recover its legal costs. I love a good corporate war!
 
CTListener said:
Whether SXM really thinks that only the Turtles are actually looking for money here -- or that some appeals court will limit the ruling to Turtles music only -- I have no idea.
Click to expand...

From what I've read, at this point, the ruling only affects Turtles songs, and really only affects California. But since Sirius is a national service, they have to eliminate. And their songs are not really banned, but as copyright owners, they haven't licensed them for airplay on Sirius. So Sirius legally can't play them.

Obviously there's an industry campaign to include ALL pre-1972 music in a new national copyright law. That takes an act of Congress, and they're closed until after the election.
 
Last edited:
Every time America's Best Music plays The Turtles, Jeff Rollins has to remind us how his college team, the Maryland Terrapins, are doing.

I was at the beach and someone in the motel decided they had to keep the local oldies station playing until 2 in the morning. At least the drunk woman stopped talking loud. I know she was drunk because she said she was. Amazingly, with a playlist mainly from the 70s with a lot of 80s, this station played "Happy Together".
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom