musicFIRST: 'SiriusXM's Two-Faced Tuesday'

SiriusXM Crying Poor ... Or Poorly Crying?

musicFIRST highlights what it considers to be SIRIUSXM's two-faced actions in its most recent blog posting. It cited the satcaster's continued resistance to paying pre-1972 royalties while simultaneously crowing about record revenues in Q3 2014.

"At 8a on TUESDAY, I noticed SIRIUSXM’s quarterly earnings report was being released. On the call, their CEO announced over $1 billion in revenue and quarterly earnings of $136 million ... when at 8:30a, at literally the exact same time their CEO was proclaiming this profit gusher, the company’s lawyers rushed into court to challenge one of two recent rulings that confirmed royalties are indeed required under CALIFORNIA law for pre-72 recordings. They also rushed into court to challenge the other ruling a couple of weeks ago. In their filings, they blasted the judges' legal reasoning as “absurd.” They also scoffed at the notion that the artists who fuel so many of their stations should get paid.

"Once again, in the land of SIRIUSXM/PANDORA doublespeak, pre-72 music matters when it comes to selling subscriptions and satisfying music fans, but it doesn’t count at all when it comes to paying the artists and record companies who created it ... Essentially, SIRIUSXM profits twice from these stations and this music – collecting subscription fees from fans and listeners on the front end, while ripping off musicians and labels by keeping their royalties on the back end."

Read the entire blog here

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