{"id":1884,"date":"2024-07-22T16:16:57","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T16:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/soundexchange-sues-free-music-streamer-accuradio-over-royalties\/"},"modified":"2024-07-22T16:16:57","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T16:16:57","slug":"soundexchange-sues-free-music-streamer-accuradio-over-royalties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/soundexchange-sues-free-music-streamer-accuradio-over-royalties\/","title":{"rendered":"SoundExchange Sues Free Music Streamer AccuRadio Over Royalties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tSoundExchange is suing a free streaming service called AccuRadio over allegations that the company failed to pay royalties for music, claiming the streamer has \u201cdirectly harmed creators.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a lawsuit filed Friday in Washington D.C. federal court, SoundExchange accused AccuRadio of violating the federal law that governs how radio-like services pay royalties to record labels and artists for the right to publicly perform copyrighted sound recordings.<\/p>\n

\n\tSoundExchange \u2013 the non-profit that collects and distributes such \u201cstatutory royalties\u201d \u2013 says AccuRadio had always paid its full bill until 2016, when its payments \u201cslowed\u201d and then finally stopped in 2018.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAccuRadio has directly harmed creators over the years by refusing to pay royalties for the use of protected recordings,\u201d said Michael Huppe<\/strong>, SoundExchange\u2019s president and CEO said in a statement on Monday. \u201cToday, SoundExchange is standing up for creators through this lawsuit to protect the value of music and ensure creators are compensated fairly for their work. We hope AccuRadio will immediately reverse course and pay what they owe for the use of the music that sits at the foundation of its service.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFounded in 2000, AccuRadio boasts that it is \u201cthe only online music streaming service curated by human beings, not algorithms.\u201d The company offers hundreds of ad-supported free music channels that users can further customize, including skipping songs they don\u2019t like.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to SoundExchange, after AccuRadio stopped paying its royalty bill, the two sides have attempted to negotiate a solution for years, including a so-called forbearance agreement last year in which the streamer agreed to make a set down payment and then regular additional payments. But after three months, SoundExchance claims AccuRadio defaulted on that agreement, too.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe cumulative amount of defendant\u2019s underpayment \u2013 which harms SoundExchange, as well as the performing artists and copyright owners on whose behalf it collects and distributes royalties \u2013 continues to grow with each passing month,\u201d SoundExchange\u2019s lawyers write in their complaint.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to demanding payment, the lawsuit is seeking a preliminary injunction that would immediately force AccuRadio to either pay up or stop offering copyrighted music to its listenership.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhile defendant has defaulted on the payments due pursuant to the forbearance agreement, it continues to operate its multichannel internet radio service, providing access to over a thousand pre-developed music channels and access to millions of sound recordings,\u201d the lawsuit reads. \u201cInjunctive relief is reasonably necessary to stop defendant from abusing the statutory license and incurring further damages throughout the pendency of this litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAccuRadio did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SoundExchange is suing a free streaming service called AccuRadio over allegations that the company failed to pay royalties for music, claiming the streamer has \u201cdirectly harmed creators.\u201d In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2627,221,593,1219,2625,2626,479],"class_list":["post-1884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-accuradio","tag-free","tag-music","tag-royalties","tag-soundexchange","tag-streamer","tag-sues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}