iHEARTMEDIA, Spotify and Apple Among Companies Hit with Pre-1972 Streaming Royalty Lawsuit

NEW YORK - Feb. 9, 2016 - PRLog -- A class action lawsuit filed yesterday in U.S District Court in the Southern District of New York targets all of the major digital music providers, including iHEARTMEDIA and Spotify, for pre-1972 music streaming royalties.

The lawsuit was filed by Ricky Spicer, former soul singer of The Ponderosa Twins Plus One and provides fascinating detail about Mr. Spicer’s rise to fame as a child despite by overcoming adversities.  Mr. Spicer recorded most of his vocals before he was twelve (12) years of age and while he was living in a state-run group home for children.  Mr. Spicer was forced to live in the children’s facility because his mother could not care for him, or his five (5) siblings, after suffering a horrific car accident.

The lawsuit cites Mr. Spicer’s recent return to the spotlight when he heard his voice recording in Kanye West’s hit song "Bound 2."  Court documents revealed that Mr. Spicer’s adult-manager failed to properly obtain ownership of Mr. Spicer’s vocal recordings.  Mr. Spicer filed a lawsuit against Kanye West for the unauthorized use of his voice, which was subsequently settled.

The pending lawsuit claims that the Defendants did not obtain a license or other authority from Ricky Spicer to reproduce, perform, stream or otherwise exploit his recordings and has not paid royalties.

The lawsuit names iHEARTMEDIA, INC., Spotify USA, Inc., Google Inc., Apple Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC., and SoundCloud as defendants and proposes to represent other similarly situated artists.

Attorney Brittany Weiner, a partner of the law firm Imbesi Law P.C., represents the plaintiffs, along with the law firm Napoli Shkolnik PLLC.

Media request should be made to attorney Paul Napoli. Mr. Napoli’s telephone number is 212-397-1000 and his email address is pnapoli@napolilaw.com

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