Twentieth Century Music Corp. et al. v. Aiken

Decided June 17, 1975. Potter Stewart delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 74-452 · 422 U.S. 151 (1975) · Cited 233 times

Holding

Respondent did not infringe upon petitioners' exclusive right, under the Copyright Act, '(t)o perform the copyrighted work publicly for profit,' since the radio receiption did not constitute a 'performance' of the copyrighted songs.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 7–2.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Fortnightly Corp. v. United Artists Television, Inc. · 392 U.S. 390 (1968)
• Buck v. Jewell-LaSalle Realty Co. · 283 U.S. 191 (1931)
• Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony · 111 U.S. 53 (1884)
• Fox Film Corp. v. Doyal · 286 U.S. 123 (1932)
• Kendall v. Winsor · 62 U.S. 322 (1859)
• United States v. Steffens · 100 U.S. 82 (1879)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. · 464 U.S. 417 (1984)
• Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises · 471 U.S. 539 (1985)
• Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. · 593 U.S. 1 (2021)
• Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. · 499 U.S. 340 (1991)
• Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. · 510 U.S. 517 (1994)
• Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. · 441 U.S. 1 (1979)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. · 545 U.S. 913 (2005)
• Capital Cities Cable, Inc. v. Crisp · 467 U.S. 691 (1984)
• Eldred v. Ashcroft · 537 U.S. 186 (2003)
• Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder · 469 U.S. 153 (1985)
• New York Times Co. v. Tasini · 533 U.S. 483 (2001)
• Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith · 598 U.S. 508 (2023)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1975). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).