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Sony Music goes after the cheerleaders (well, their mix makers)
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 12 February 2014
Sony Music filed litigation against four companies in the New York courts on Monday over special mix albums being sold to the organisers of cheerleading competitions Stateside.
Recordings owned or repped by the major in the US, including tracks from Christina Aguilera, Beyonce and Adele, have all appeared without permission on the special cheerleading releases, according to the record company. One of the targeted companies was selling its cheerleading disks for $75-$249 per mix, while another was asking for $850-$1500 for its lovingly compiled tunes-to-cheerlead-to.
According to Law360, the lawsuit alleges: “This is an action for the blatant, wilful and ongoing infringement of Sony Music’s copyrights in and to certain sound recordings. Defendants sell, distribute and commercially exploit customised ‘mixes’ of popular sound recordings for use in cheerleading competitions that include Sony Music’s copyrighted sound recordings without any attempt to obtain the requisite permission”.
The major added that it had sent cease and desist letters to the targeted companies just under a year ago but to no avail.