Comedian Lewis Black filed a lawsuit against SiriusXM-owned audio player Pandora on Thursday, arguing that the company made recordings of his performances without obtaining the copyright to his written work.
It is the latest escalation of the disorderly struggle between comics, streamers and action rights organizations that have recently stepped in to standardize the copyright of the spoken word in the digital age. This lawsuit, along with several others filed against Pandora, seeks a late payment of millions of dollars in publishing fees and fundamentally change the way copyrights work for comedies. If comics win, it could have major ramifications for Pandora, Spotify, and other audio players.
The rights to publish spoken word content (such as comedy) have been largely ignored
Black, who achieved national prominence with his regular appearances on The Daily Show, is suing for a total of $ 10.2 million. “One might think that entertainment giants like Pandora would honor the legacy of such amazing talent, but instead chose to illegally take advantage of Lewis Black’s creative mind and literary and comic works,” the lawsuit says. . Black and Pandora were not immediately available for comment.
The lawsuit is based on the idea that, as in music, comedy albums have two copyrights for which streamers must pay royalties: one for recording and one for publishing, or the written work of the material that has been recorded. While comics and their record labels often pay royalties for their recording rights, the rights to publish spoken content (such as comedy) have been largely ignored and sometimes outright denied by streamers.
Black’s lawsuit follows a series of similar legal actions by comedians such as Andrew Dice Clay and Nick Di Paolo, as well as the assets of Robin Williams and George Carlin, who are represented by the rights organization Word Collections. These lawsuits, initially filed in February, were consolidated into a single lawsuit by the judge in March. Black is represented by another performance rights organization, Spoken Giants, although it is not part of the lawsuit.
“The comedy community stands firm in their belief that their written work has value. Without the written work, there would be no live recordings or performances,” Jim King, CEO of Spoken Giants, said in a statement. “The impressive costs of this battle would be better spent just by paying for the intellectual property they pass on to their millions of subscribers.”
Black first entered the fray for the first time in December, when Spotify removed from its platform comedy albums in contention for comics like John Mulaney and Tiffany Haddish after negotiations between Spoken Giants and the streamer broke down. He called for his albums to be withdrawn out of solidarity. “It took a long time for comedy to be recognized as an art form,” he said at the time. “So Spotify should recognize that a joke is as powerful as a song’s lyrics, for which they pay.”
Pandora listed among its liabilities that it issued comedy without obtaining publishing rights
The dispute with Spotify has not yet resulted in a lawsuit. And part of the reason Pandora’s suit is moving faster (even if it’s not as big a player as Spotify) could be due to the language the company used in a financial presentation prior to its acquisition by part of SiriusXM. In 2017, Pandora listed among its liabilities that it issued comedy without obtaining publishing rights. “As a result, third parties could claim copyright against us,” the company wrote.
In its response to the May combined lawsuits, the company argued that it has done so correctly because the rights to publish spoken content have not been the custom of the industry, comics benefit from the exposure they have to Pandora and Pandora is not. profitable while comedy labels are. The company is also suing for damages.
Pandora’s arguments may not be strong enough to avoid costumes. “They say it would be difficult to pay royalties. This is unappealable: it will be difficult,” said intellectual property litigant Terence Ross, who is a partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman. “Unfortunately, this is not a knowable defense to a copyright charge.”
Losing is a very, very expensive proposition for Pandora. The comics are asking for $ 150,000 for each work allegedly infringed for a total of more than $ 70 million. It could also set a precedent for other comics to sue streamers for similar damages.
Aside from the immediate financial damage, a change in the way the copyrighted functions of the spoken word could also fundamentally change the way streamers do business. Spotify, in particular, has relied heavily on conversational content such as podcasts and soon audiobooks because they are much less expensive to stream in real time than music. If these works are also entitled to publishing rights, this is another cost that Spotify and other streamers will have to bear.
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