SoundExchange da la bienvenida al fallo judicial en la disputa de Slacker

 The American collecting organization SoundExchange is pleased with the recent verdict in its lawsuit against the US personalized radio service Slacker and its parent firm LiveOne.

A compulsory license under American copyright law allows personalized radio services like Slacker's, which offer limited capability streaming, access to recordings in the US via the collective licensing system. That license is handled by SoundExchange.

The group filed suit in a California court in June, although the disagreement with Slacker goes back to 2017 when LiveXLive Media, now known as LiveOne, acquired the personalized radio setup.

SoundExchange claimed in its June lawsuit that "early 2017, Slacker stopped paying statutory royalties to creators whose recordings it was exploiting. Since then, SoundExchange has been trying to negotiate a settlement with Slacker to settle their outstanding balance, but Slacker has not fulfilled its obligations under the parameters to which the parties originally agreed.

Slacker owes the organization $9.7 million in outstanding royalties after a judge ruled in favor of the organisation last week. In addition, the letter stated that Slacker and LiveOne could no longer rely on the aforementioned compulsory license, therefore any future usage of recorded music would need to be arranged separately with SoundExchange or individual record companies.

SoundExchange CEO Michael Huppe responded positively to the verdict, saying, "SoundExchange takes our role in safeguarding fair recompense for creators seriously." Slacker and LiveOne have been accused of "failing to pay appropriately for the music—on which the companies constructed their business model—despite a prior agreement, many assurances, and repeated negotiations."

It's unfortunate that this action had to be taken, he continues, "but we will not budge when it comes to protecting creators and ensuring they are well-represented and appropriately paid under the law." Thank you for the court's foresight in seeing the merit of our case and rendering this favorable verdict.