Irving Azoff’s PRO, Global Music Rights, settles two copyright infringement lawsuits in the US
Global Music Rights (GMR), a performance rights association founded by industry veteran Irving Azoff, has settled a copyright infringement lawsuit it filed against radio companies. ground Red Wolf Broadcasting Corp. and One Putt Broadcasting.
GMR sued three US radio companies, including the two listed above, nearly four months ago, accusing them of failing to secure a license to include their songs.
Founded in 2013 by Azoff, GMR represents a roster of over 100 musicians including Bruce Springsteen, Bruno Mars, Drake, Pharrell Williams, John Lennon and The Eagles.
The company licensed the public performance of these artists’ copyrighted music.
Last year GMR settled protracted legal dispute with the Radio Music Licensing Commission (RMLC) after litigation second case in 2016 for what it described as unfair payments to musicians.
The settlement saw the majority of commercial radio stations under the RMLC register with GMR. Unlicensed stations are no longer allowed to publicly perform songs in the GMR repository.
Eight months later, GMR sued Red Wolf, One Putt and Southern Stone Communications for copyright infringement.
In the first part of the two complaints, which you can read in full hereand hererespectively, GMR said that at least since 2017, Red Wolf and One Putt stations “have performed GMR’s compositions without obtaining a license in violation of copyright law.”
GMR sued Red Wolf in the US District Court of Connecticut and One Putt in the Eastern District Court of California.
Over a five-year period, GMR says it submitted 10 separate written license offers to Red Wolf and One Putt stations to legally play songs covered by GMR. However, Red Wolf allegedly turned down all those offers and refused to pay GMR any license fees between January 2017 and October 2022.
The radio stations “made the strategic decision not to pay GMR for these uses and were hoping to get away with it,” GMR added at the time.
GMC claims the maximum statutory damages of $150,000 for each copyright infringed and a portion of the radio station’s profits derived from the performance of the songs.
But most recently on Friday (January 20), GMR said it had reached a settlement with Red Wolf and One Putt without disclosing whether the settlement included financial terms.
“We are committed to protecting the rights of GMR songwriters and composers, and ensuring that agencies that publicly perform their works are properly licensed.”
Emio Zizza, General Counsel of GMR
GMR said both radio stations had agreed to sign long-term licenses as part of the deal.
Commenting on the settlement with Red Wolf, GMR General Counsel, Emio Zizza, said: “We are committed to protecting the rights of GMR musicians and composers, while ensuring the representation units publicly perform their works properly licensed.
“Through this lawsuit, we have completed those efforts and look forward to our future licensing relationship with Red Wolf.”
Global Music Business
