'American Idol' Repeats Don't Sound the Same to Musicians Union

Posted by Eriq Gardner

The American Federation of Musicians is suing producers of "American Idol" over the soundtrack music used in reruns of the program.

The union, affiliated with powerhouse AFL-CIO, has filed suit in U.S. District Court in in Los Angeles complaining that producers of the nation's most popular show rerecorded a new orchestral soundtrack for "American Idol Rewind" instead of using the original performances of the musicians on the show. The complaint contends that by extracting the original music, producers were able to syndicate reruns of the program without having to pay re-use compensation to the unionized musicians on "American Idol."

The union claims that the labor agreement prohibited extraction of the original music. Re-use compensation would have been 75% of scale to each musician, plus 10% of compensation to the pension fund, plus further payments. The union wishes the court to order such payments be made.