Last September, a similar lawsuit was filed against Sirius XM. The subject of the lawsuit has to do with the fact that sound recordings didn't begin falling under federal copyright protection until the above date. As such, the streaming service might not be able to rely upon SoundExchange, the performance rights organization that collects digital and satellite royalties on the behalf of sound recording copyright owners.
The record labels are testing this belief, now asserting New York state misappropriation claims over older music being streaming on Pandora.
"Pandora's refusal to pay Plaintiffs for its use of these recordings is fundamentally unfair," says the lawsuit. Among the artists whose songs are said to be infringed upon Pandora are Bob Dylan, The Beatles, David Bowie, Elvis Presley, James Brown and Led Zeppelin.
If the plaintiffs prevail, many of the songs could be off Pandora, as Capitol Records, Sony Music, Universal Music, Warner Music and ABKCO Music are demanding an injunction in addition to compensatory damages, punitive damages and all proceeds gained as a result of the exploitation of pre-'72 music.
Pandora has more than 250 million users.
The complaint points out that Pandora features specific stations that leverage the older music including "50s Rock 'n' Roll," "60s Oldies," "Motown," "Doo-Wop," "Early Jazz," and others.
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