Obama dancing on Ellen last fall to Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love.” Less than one minute is played out of a nearly four minute song. This is one of the longest clips played on Ellen

In a move that shows how heavy-handed and out of touch the music industry is, multiple record companies are suing Ellen Degeneres for thousands of copyright infringements and unpaid licensing fees involving the brief music clips she plays on her show. Ellen’s people say they didn’t “roll that way,” but they may have a better defense. The clips Ellen plays are quick and may fall under the terms of “Fair Use.”

Some of the world’s largest recording companies are suing “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” claiming producers violated their copyrights by playing more than 1,000 songs without permission.

Many of the songs were played during the “dance over” segment of the show, when DeGeneres dances from the stage to the interview area, often through the audience.

According to the suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Nashville, when representatives of the recording companies asked defendants why they hadn’t obtained licenses to use the songs, defendants said they didn’t “roll that way.”

“As sophisticated consumers of music, Defendants knew full well that, regardless of the way they rolled, under the Copyright Act, and under state law for the pre-1972 recordings, they needed a license to use the sound recordings lawfully,” the suit states.

Scott Rowe, spokesman for the show’s Telepictures Productions, wrote in an e-mailed statement that the company has been working with the record labels for months to resolve the issue and remains willing to resolve it on “amicable and reasonable terms.”

Rowe said the issue does not involve DeGeneres, who on Wednesday was named as the fourth judge on TV’s “American Idol,” and whom Rowe calls “a tremendous music enthusiast and advocate.”

The suit claims the daytime talk show has used copyrighted music without permission since its inception, including “recordings by virtually every major current artist of popular music.” It claims the show routinely used some of the most popular songs of the day, which the record labels don’t license for daytime television at any price.

Other songs cited in the lawsuit include Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”; The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” and Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.”

The suit calls the segment and the music played by the show’s own disc jockey “signature elements of the show.”

Plaintiffs include Arista Music, Atlantic Recording Corp., Capitol Records, Motown Record Company, Sony Music Entertainment, Virgin Records America and Warner Bros. Records.

The suit does not specify the dollar amount it seeks in damages.

[From AP via The Huffington Post]

As a commenter Jim on Gawker points out, one of the longest clips Ellen has ever played was on Obama’s appearance when he was campaigning for President, above, and it was less than one minute. Ellen’s show plays typically less than 30 seconds of a song and it can be argued that it falls under fair use. What’s more is that it certainly helps promote music and artists. Ellen features so many musicians from those record labels on her show. You would think that they would try to work out an agreement with the show instead of suing. On the other hand, this may be a last ditch effort after record companies tried to work out something with the show and got rebuffed.

What took the record companies so long to file this suit? Ellen has been on the air for six years.

Did you hear about how music companies are also also suing coffee houses and small music venues in Florida for licensing fees when live artists perform cover songs?