And it’s no longer a distant notion: Preliminary hearings in the consolidated cases are set to begin in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles at the end of this month, has also learned.
The lawsuits — Black’s is from July 7, and a batch was filed in February by several comics — are packed with receipts, claiming they’ve been underpaid or stiffed altogether for performances already streamed thousands of times on Pandora. They allege that Pandora uploaded comedy routines without trying to get licenses. Then, in regulatory filings, Pandora admitted it knew it was putting itself at risk by offering the material.
But there’s a subtle sea change embedded in those lawsuits: The comedians are seeking copyright compensation not just for the recorded performances, but for the underlying written material as well. That structure would be unprecedented for comedians – though it’s exactly how musicians have been compensated for over a century.
Lopez’ lawsuit was filed by attorney Richard Busch, who is representing all parties in the matter via a handful of separate suits pressing the same issue against Pandora. Lopez, unlike previous lawsuits, is not afraid to fire when it comes down to the two-copyrights position. He declares it as a settled fact.
“Just like with music, there are two copyrights involved in the recorded performance of a literary copyrighted work: a copyright in the sound recording, and a separate copyright in the underlying spoken word composition … Anyone wishing to obtain the right to do so, must get a license from the respective copyright owner in both of these copyrights, and pay agreed-to royalties,”This is the lawsuit.
Pandora argues that would upend longstanding industry precedent, and denies ever stiffing any comedian, claiming it has paid out millions in royalties via comedians’ record companies (tell that to Black, whose lawsuit says he’s the sole copyright owner and hasn’t been paid a penny, despite his routines streaming on Pandora tens of thousands of times).
Lopez’ lawsuit says 37 of his recorded works have been streamed thousands of times on Pandora.
“As of the date of filing, [Pandora] advertised that Mr. Lopez had 117,000 monthly listeners,”This is the lawsuit. “If each listener listened to only one (1) available work per month, that’s 1,404,000 broadcasts or/interactive streams per year at a minimum. Unfortunately, Mr. Lopez has not received a fraction of a penny for any of these broadcasts or streams.”
Pandora has refused to comment or allow access to its lawyers or executives. This is pointing to its confidentiality.Counterclaim— which accuses the plaintiffs of demanding a “radical” change that amounts to an illegal price-fixing attempt — as its response. Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and other large-scale streamers didn’t respond to queries from about their comedy content strategies and how comedians are compensated.
They will be able to take whatever Pandora throws at them.
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