SoundExchange, Sirius Settle Royalties Claims For $150M

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Sirius has settled its legal standoff with SoundExchange over claims of royalties owed from January 2007 to December 2017 for a lump sum payment of $150 million.

The funds are to be distributed by SoundExchange to the rights owners and artists who claim their content was unlawfully used by Sirius during the period in question.

“We are happy to resolve this case with SiriusXM,” SoundExchange President and CEO Michael Huppe said in a statement. “The settlement allows us to distribute additional royalties to SoundExchange’s artists and rights owners while avoiding additional costly litigation.”

The multiple suits stretch back to 2013, according to the Wall Street Journal, and were based around Sirius’s refusal to pay royalties for recordings made before 1972. SoundExchange also reportedly claimed that the satellite radio giant was low-balling its gross revenues.

A bipartisan bill was introduced to the House of Representatives in April, titled the Music Modernization Act, which would create a new collection entity to get artists paid for use of all works, including those from before 1972.

Sirius did strike a deal to pay $99 million to settle class-action lawsuits filed by members of The Turtles, who claimed they were owed royalties for spins of their pre-1972 recordings.