SoundExchange Seeks to Audit More Records from Live365

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 2, 2006 - 3:10pm.

[UPDATE: A clarification note was added on November 20, 2006]
Washington - The U.S. Copyright Office announced that it has received a notice of intent from SoundExchange, the recording industry entity set up to collect and distribute royalties for digital music, to audit the 2005 statements of Live365, an Internet radio broadcaster.

SoundExchange is already auditing Live365's 2002-2004 statements of account concerning the eligible nonsubscription and subscription transmissions of sound recordings under statutory licenses.

Related Links:
http://www.copyright.gov/carp/live365-notice.pdf
http://www.soundexchange.com
http://www.live365.com

Clarification:
Live365 contacted us to say that some readers had inferred from this story that the audit was a form of punishment for questionable activity. SoundExchange general counsel Gary Greenstein confirmed for DMW that such audits are a normal course of action to ensure accurate royalty payments by webcasters, and that the Live365 audit was not initiated as the result of any suspected wrongdoing. SoundExchange said the addition of the year 2005 to the existing audit was made to minimize disruptions to Live365 and maximize the efficiency of the audit. SoundExchange is also currently auditing other webcasters, including AOL, Clear Channel, Microsoft, MTV, RealNetworks and Yahoo.
Mark Hefflinger
Editor, Digital Media Wire