Performance rights organization (PRO) SoundExchange, the mandated royalty collection agency for digital music performance royalties, has lost a ruling in its effort to gain allowance of legal actions against broadcasters. The controversy is occurring in US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
In the lawsuit, SoundExchange sought the right to levy a lawsuit against SiriusXM. SoundExchange alleges that SXM underpaid satellite radio royalties. The action started in 2023, at which time SoundExchange sought $150M in back royalties, covering a period of several years. Now, that number is $400 million according to one report.
At the heart of the decision is a broad ruling by Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. She dismissed the lawsuit, with her opinion that the creation of SoundExchange as a government agency did not grant the right to file lawsuits on behalf of its clients — music artists and record labels:
“Even if we were to consider legislative history, we would find that it fails to offer persuasive evidence of Congress’s intent to empower SoundExchange with the type of litigation authority plaintiff and amici suggest.” — Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, quoted HERE.
