Streaming radio service AccuRadio filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today after reaching an impasse in negotiations with SoundExchange over owed royalties.
CEO Kurt Hanson, who founded AccuRadio in 2000, said, “SoundExchange filed a lawsuit against us in mid-2024 that came as a complete surprise because we had been working with their lawyers for months to reach a fair and reasonable payment plan — and we thought we were almost there. Then, after many more months of negotiating in good faith during the litigation process, we were led to believe that our latest proposal would be accepted by SoundExchange with only minor modifications. However, eventually SoundExchange altered its position and rejected that proposal. We were extremely disappointed that we couldn’t reach a negotiated settlement,” Hanson continued, adding that “AccuRadio has been a consistently reliable SoundExchange licensee for the vast majority of the past two decades, having paid SX over $13,500,000 in royalties. Furthermore, AccuRadio resumed full current payments to SoundExchange many months ago and continues to keep current with ongoing obligations.”
Hanson went on to blame the company’s issues on the Copyright Royalty Board’s rate-setting process that leaves small and midsize companies out of the process as “extremely high costs of lawyers, expert witnesses, and discovery make participation virtually impossible.” He said, “AccuRadio has spent almost 25 years building an innovative and well-loved music streaming service while facing royalty obligations that climbed to levels that seem to suggest the system is rigged, perhaps inadvertently, against small and midsize streamers.”
Hanson said AccuRadio will remain independent. “Filing for bankruptcy protection wasn’t an easy decision, especially since our revenues have been consistently improving and we have returned to profitability, but we are confident that AccuRadio will emerge from it healthier and more resilient, and will continue to be an outlet for human-curated music that our listeners desire and cherish.”
