Publishers Sue XM Satellite Radio
BILLBOARD: Publishers Sue XM Satellite Radio
“The publishers claim that the service does not merely broadcast recorded songs; it delivers perfect digital copies of songs for its customers to copy to the devices, create extensive libraries of the songs and replay them for as long as the listeners pay XM’s monthly fee. Yet XM has not licensed the right to reproduce or distribute the recorded compositions, publishers claim.”
Publishers are looking to get Mechanicals from the distribution of music via the satellite provider. Sirius, who is in the process of acquiring XM, has already settled with record labels but has not yet settled with publishers.
Only a fraction of both providers customers are using the units that offer the saving of songs. Paying publishers the statutory rate mechanical for every song they play would just not work financially for the network. Are the publishers expecting a SoundScan style report so that publishers can track exactly how many people have saved songs via the service?
