San Juan Music Group

Run by Michael Chernow, the San Juan Music Group, Ltd. is a music and DVD licensing company specializing in back-catalog masters and new or re-recordings of artists from the 1970's through to the 1990's and beyond. Masters in San Juan Music's catalogue include recordings by The O'Jays, The Stylistics, The Chi-Lites, Tanya Tucker, Chaka Khan, The Four Tops, Loverboy, T’Pau, Level 42, Peaches & Herb, The Fixx, ABC, Tavares, Paul Lekakis and, most prominently, Bob Marley. Usually these masters are either (later) re-recordings of original hits by the original artists, or live versions of original artist hits. These recordings are licensed to labels for either compilations, digital rights, greeting cards, regular brick-and-mortar retail as well as film and TV usage such as by BBC Television, Fox TV, and HBO. The company did run into a few spots of legal bother towards the end of the nineties when they were sued by Richard Pryor for the illegal transfer of masters. The judge's ruling also included damages mentioning usage of songs by Leadbelly, Big Joe Turner, the Spaniels, Clara Ward, Betty Everett and others without permission.