SoundExchange's Royalty Lawsuit Against Music Choice Heads Back to Court

The lawsuit accusing Music Choice of underpaying royalties is heading back to court, more than seven years after SoundExchange first filed it. In a joint report filed on 2 November 2026 with the federal court in Washington, DC, both sides set out how they want the case to proceed, according to Music Business Worldwide.

SoundExchange is the organisation that collects and pays out royalties when recordings are played on digital radio and similar services. Those payments go to the performers and rights holders behind the songs. It filed the case in April 2019, on 10 April, after an audit of Music Choice's royalty payments for 2013 to 2016. The complaint said the company owed millions of dollars.

The central allegation concerns business establishment services, the music packages sold to businesses such as shops, bars and restaurants. SoundExchange alleges that Music Choice paid royalties on only a fraction of the revenue from those services. It says the company left out money linked to channels that also appeared on its consumer TV service.

The royalty rules set the amount as a share of revenue. Under the Copyright Royalty Board, the three-judge panel that sets these rates, business establishment services paid 10% of revenue from 2009 to 2013, and 12.5% from 2014 to 2018.

The case then stalled for years. In December 2021, Judge Reggie B. Walton sent the question of what the royalty rule means to the Copyright Royalty Board and paused the case while the board decided. On 4 December 2024, the board's three judges sided with SoundExchange in a ruling issued to the parties.

Now the case is moving again. The court had ordered both sides to report back once Music Choice's appeal was resolved, and the joint report is that filing. The two sides proposed about 75 days to exchange evidence on damages. After that, they suggested settlement talks or mediation, in which a neutral third party helps the sides negotiate. The case is docketed as No. 1:19-cv-00999.

Nothing has been decided on the amount owed. The allegations remain allegations, and no court has ruled that Music Choice underpaid. What the filing does set is a timetable: roughly 75 days of evidence exchange on damages, then a push toward a deal. For the artists and labels waiting on the money, that timetable is the next thing to watch.