Revenues from streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music have created a new source of income for performing artists. And where there is new money, there are new claims to it. I recently came across two different reports where the estates of deceased artists have made a claim to this new source of revenue.

One involves the members of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. There, the estates of Hendrix’ bandmates, drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding sued Sony Music, alleging copyright infringement and seeking royalties. Hendrix died in 1970. However, the band’s music continued to generate significant income. The claim is quite complicated. Hendrix’ estate and Sony claim that Mitchell and Redding signed away any rights to the music. Mitchell and Redding argue that the contracts do not operate to bar their claims, and that the releases, if applicable, do not apply to revenues from streaming services, which were not in existence at the time and which “none of the parties would have been able to foresee or contemplate”. Further, the releases are alleged to not apply outside of North America. The original agreement between Hendrix, Mitchell and Redding was that any profits would be split 3 ways, with Hendrix receiving 50% and each of Mitchell and Redding receiving 25%. Lawyers for Mitchell and Redding estimate that there have been 3 billion streams of the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s music.

In another story, the estates of Robin Williams and George Carlin are suing streaming service Pandora. The estates claim that Pandora has been streaming the comedians’ work without proper licencing or compensation. The estates allege that Pandora gained listeners, subscribers and market share with full knowledge that it did not have licences to use the comedians’ works. Williams’ estate is claiming $4.1m and Carlin’s estate is claiming $8.4m. Pandora was purchased by Sirius XM in 2018 for $3.5 billion.

Thank you for reading.

Paul Trudelle