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The Turtles Block Sirius Label Deals
The Turtles’ ongoing class action lawsuit against Sirius XM Radio in a California federal court claiming the company owes royalties to owners of pre-1972 recordings has amped up to block the satellite broadcaster’s $210 million settlement deal with the record labels that doesn’t include the song owners.
The band’s Flo and Eddie, aka Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, say the Recording Industry Association of America settlement with Sirius was made without their input after they did the all groundwork in the case that gave a victory for pre-1972 music rights-holders, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The Turtles’ attorney asked for an injunction to compel Sirius to put the money into an interest-bearing account controlled by the court instead of paying the labels. The mid-June agreement with Warner Music, Universal Music, Sony Music and ABCKO was said to resolve the labels’ lawsuit and allowed Sirius to keep broadcasting the pre-1972 recordings until the end of 2017.
There isn’t a national law that gives pre-1972 sound recording owners a performance right. The Turtles filed a motion in a Los Angeles federal court March 16 asking for class-action status for their suit alleging Sirius XM owes royalties to owners of pre-1972 recordings that were performed from Aug. 21, 2009 to present.