Radionomy Getting Sued? Sony Music Sues for Copyright Infringement

Is online radio service Radionomy getting sued? Reports indicate that Sony Music are pursuing Radionomy on grounds for copyright infringement and unfair competition.

Radionomy Getting Sued: The Details

One of the main issues Radionomy face revolve around their business model, which includes providing users with a music library that stations can use and broadcast globally; However despite offering financial incentives to stations to broadcast this content, Radionomy are not paying the relevant royalties relating to this copyrighted martial, neither are they providing song history reports.

"Defendants are neither paying the statutory royalty (or any royalty) nor are they complying with the statutory reporting requirements" in the USA.

A lawsuit for $150,000 (per infringed track) was filed Friday 26th February by Record Labels Arista Records, LaFace Records, and Sony Music Entertainment which accused Radionomy of violating their copyright.

Record labels point out that Radionomy has failed to pay the proper licenses which has lead to it's promotion and hosting of a high number of copyright infringed radio stations. The lawsuit is based on wilful infringement, claiming that Radionomy has refused to remove stations from it's services when asked.

The labels state hundreds of tracks were used without permission on Radionomy like Adele, Bob, Dylan, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Elvis Presley, John Mayer, Michael Jackson, One Direction, Pink Floyd, and Shakira.

The labels also go on to state that Radionomy encourages it's users to start radio stations with the incentive of offering rewards to the amount of listeners they attract, all the while cancelling the least popular stations:

"Defendants encourage users to include popular copyrighted recordings in programmed stations by offering to ‘reward’ users with cash payments if they create a station that reaches a large audience and threatening to deactivate users that fail to reach ‘minimum audience’ requirements."

The labels hope to get help from the court and are requesting a permanent injunction against Radionomy, which could result in millions of dollars worth of damages.

For more info on the lawsuit read the full complaint here.