A performing rights company filed suit in Los Angeles federal court Thursday accusing the radio group Entravision Communications of copyright infringement.
Global Music Rights, founded by industry veteran Irving Azoff, contends Entravision stations played more than 130 copyrighted songs nearly 15,000 times without paying songwriters. The suit accuses the broadcaster of violating performance rights on such songs as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” and Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters.”
An Entravision representative could not immediately be reached for comment.
“Global Music Rights’ mission is to ensure that songwriters receive fair pay,” said Global Music attorney Daniel Petrocelli. “Entravision used our writers’ songs to drive listeners and earn millions of dollars in revenue, yet it paid our writers nothing. Entravision is a large, sophisticated company and knew exactly what it was doing. Global Music Rights will defend the rights of our writers against such intellectual property theft.”
Global Music Rights is seeking $150,000 for each infringement, the maximum allowed, for a total of more than $1.5 billion in damages, according to the lawsuit.