Pandora to pull music made before 1972?

According to an in-depth report from The Hollywood Reporter, record labels are starting to sue the streaming music radio service Pandora over songs created before 1972. This could end in music from this pre-1972 era being removed from the service because record labels don't believe Pandora has the right to these works.

"Pandora's refusal to pay Plaintiffs for its use of these recordings is fundamentally unfair," the lawsuit states. This suit names artists such as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, David Bowie, Elvis Presley, James Brown and Led Zeppelin as being infringed upon by the online streaming service.

The Hollywood Reporter states:

If the plaintiffs prevail, many of the songs could be off Pandora, as Capitol Records, Sony Music, Universal Music, Warner Music and ABKCO Music are demanding an injunction in addition to compensatory damages, punitive damages and all proceeds gained as a result of the exploitation of pre-'72 music. Pandora has more than 250 million users.

The complaint points out that Pandora features specific stations that leverage the older music including "50s Rock 'n' Roll," "60s Oldies," "Motown," "Doo-Wop," "Early Jazz," and others.

Pandora works by attempting to feed its users songs that are similar to their favorites, but the algorithm can sometimes be reliant on what users pick in the first place. For example, the lawsuit says that on the "Beatles" station, a user can expect to hear a recording from the John Lennon group approximately four times during a three-hour period.

Check out the complaint right here.

Our advice is to listen to these songs while you can because it looks like they could be coming down sometime soon!