Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Mood Media Gets Setback In Court Over Royalty Underpayments

Austin-based Mood Media, which provides music and other technology and systems to retailers, reported a setback in a lawsuit against the company by SoundExchange against its subsidiary, Muzak. According to Mood Media, an appeals court in the District of Columbia Circuit has reversed a ruling which had dismissed SoundExchange's allegations that Muzak had been underpaying certain royalties for its consumer residential music channels for satellite and cable television subscribers. Mood Media says that SoundExchange had claimed damages, corresponding to the amount of the underpayment of royalties and late fees, which could exceed $10M. Mood Media said the appeals court ruling means it may "ultimately result" in payments to SoundExchange, and also require Muzak to pay a higher royalty rate.