Air Check Website Reel Radio Lawyers-Up Vs. RIAA

The aircheck website ReelRadio received notice last summer from the Recording Industry Association of America regarding non-compliance with conditions of their statutory license. The statutory license allows ReelRadio to stream music sound recordings heard in our "unscoped" airchecks.  ReelRadio has been paying the RIAA licensing fees for years, but a problem arose last summer when the recording organization sent a letter asking for changes in the way ReelRadio streams music.

At the time, some 1,147 unscoped airchecks became unavailable on the subscription-based website.

Aircheck curator Uncle Ricky said , “the RIAA has determined that our service fails to meet the requirements for "archived programs", which must be at least five hours in duration and may not be made available for more than two weeks. The service must also display the Title, Artist and Album of each featured song, but only while the recording is being performed. You have probably seen this type of "online radio station" elsewhere on the Web.

Obviously, we have no single airchecks with a duration of five hours, and our exhibits are permanent. Our current method for streaming content does not allow real-time metadata, such as artist and title, to be included in the media file.”

He also said in a posted statement, “The RIAA has asked ReelRadio to remedy these violations to continue operating under the statutory license. Further, the RIAA insists that we obtain permission from the copyright owners of these old radio broadcasts. Many broadcasters understand the difficulty of this requirement, since nearly all radio stations have changed ownership, format, and call letters, many times over. Nevertheless, we are expected to provide the RIAA with an explanation of how we have permission from radio stations that no longer exist and copyright owners who have no interest in historic recordings of their property. The law is too narrow and should obviously be amended to include genuine "historical archive" sites, like Reelradio.”

ReelRadio has suspended streaming of unscoped airchecks and currently, they are not offering renewals or new subscriptions.

The L-A Times last week reported Reelradio.com has found a lawy firm to work on their case. The law firm of King & Spalding has agreed to provide pro bono services to ReelRadio for the purpose of clearing up any music licensing issues.