--- description: Major labels say Pandora is violating their copyrights to a slew of pre-1972 oldies like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Aretha Franklin title: Record Labels Suing Pandora Over Oldies image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Music Industry](/tag/music-industry/) ## Music Industry Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Record Labels Suing Pandora Over Oldies by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 18, 2014 6:46 PM CUT by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 18, 2014 6:46 PM CUT Sony, Warner and several other major record labels are [suing](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/business/media/lawsuit-against-pandora-seeks-royalties-for-golden-oldies.html?hpw&rref=technology "undefined") Pandora for copyright infringement, accusing the Internet radio mogul of playing pre-1972 songs by artists like Buddy Holly and the Rolling Stones without licenses. The record companies argue that while the pre-1972 songs Pandora plays aren’t covered by federal copyright protection, they are protected by common law in states like New York, where the case was filed Thursday, the New York Times reports. The labels control the rights to a litany of major artists like the Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, James Brown and others. The record labels claim that Pandora is unjustly profiting from their artists, denying them tens of millions of dollars each year from Pandora and other streaming services. “This case presents a classic attempt by Pandora to reap where it has not sown,” the labels say in the suit. María Elena Holly, the widow of Buddy Holly, said in a statement: “Just because Buddy and the other ’50s musicians recorded songs before 1972 doesn’t mean their songs have no value. These companies’ failure to pay the rock ’n’ roll pioneers is an injustice and it needs to change.” Pandora plays songs according to user-preferred categories like “Motown” or “60s Oldies.” The company said it was confident in its legal position. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/business/media/lawsuit-against-pandora-seeks-royalties-for-golden-oldies.html?hpw&rref=technology "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/68436/record-labels-suing-pandora-over-oldies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/68436/record-labels-suing-pandora-over-oldies/"},"headline":"Record Labels Suing Pandora Over Oldies","datePublished":"2014-04-18T18:46:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:23:13.307Z","description":"Major labels say Pandora is violating their copyrights to a slew of pre-1972 oldies like the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Aretha Franklin. While federal copyright laws don't protect the older tunes, record labels argue that the music is protected by some states","url":"https://time.com/68436/record-labels-suing-pandora-over-oldies/","keywords":["Music Industry"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/music-industry/","name":"Music Industry"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/68436/record-labels-suing-pandora-over-oldies/","name":"Record Labels Suing Pandora Over Oldies"}}]}] ```