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Note 13 - Commitments and Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2024
Notes to Financial Statements  
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 13 Commitments and Contingencies

 

Contractual Obligations

 

As of  June 30, 2024, the Company is obligated under agreements with various music right holders and labels, festivals, clubs, events, concerts, artists, promoters, venues, music labels and publishers   and other contractual obligations to make guaranteed payments as follows: $6.0 million for the fiscal year ending  March 31, 2025, $0.6 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026, $0.5 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027 and $0.5 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2028.

 

On a quarterly basis, the Company records the greater of the cumulative actual content acquisition costs incurred or the cumulative minimum guarantee based on forecasted usage for the minimum guarantee period. The minimum guarantee period of time is the period that the minimum guarantee relates to, as specified in each agreement, which may be annual or a longer period. The cumulative minimum guarantee, based on forecasted usage, considers factors such as listening hours, revenue, members, and other terms of each agreement that impact the Company’s expected attainment or recoupment of the minimum guarantees based on the relative attribution method.

 

Several of the Company’s content acquisition agreements also include provisions related to the royalty payments and structures of those agreements relative to other content licensing arrangements, which, if triggered, could cause the Company’s payments under those agreements to escalate, which included payments to be made in common stock. In addition, record labels, publishers and performing rights organizations with whom the Company has entered into direct license agreements have the right to audit the Company’s content acquisition payments, and any such audit could result in disputes over whether the Company has paid the proper content acquisition costs. However, as of June 30, 2024, the Company does not believe it is probable that these provisions of its agreements discussed above will, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on its business, financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

 

On August 4, 2022, the Company entered into a settlement agreement with a certain music partner attributed to past royalties owed. The Company issued 800,000 shares of its common stock to the music partner and settled $0.4 million of accounts payable with the remaining value of the shares attributed to prepayment for future royalties. The fair value of the shares was determined to be $1.0 million based on the Company’s share price at the date the shares were issued. As of June 30, 2024, no amount was recorded as a prepaid asset related to this transaction in order to fund future amounts owed for royalties. As the agreement was not terminated by the music partner after one year, the Company issued to the music partner an additional 200,000 shares of its common stock as prepayment of future royalties during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 ("Fiscal 2024").

 

Employment Arrangements

 

As of June 30, 2024, the Company has an employment arrangement with its two named executive officers (“Section 16 Officers”) that provide salary payments of $0.7 million and target bonus compensation of up to $0.3 million on an annual basis. Furthermore, such employment arrangements consist of an employment agreement which contains severance clauses that could require severance payments in the aggregate amount of $0.3 million (excluding the value of potential payouts of discretionary bonuses, pro-rata bonuses, and potential accelerated vesting of equity awards granted to such executive officers) to the Company’s CFO.

 

On August 28, 2023, the Company's subsidiary, PodcastOne, Inc., entered into a new two-year employment contract with its President for $0.4 million per year effective January 1, 2023.

 

The Company’s CEO agreed to forgive his salary of $0.5 million per annum for the period from August 2021 until December 31, 2022 in exchange for shares of the Company’s common stock and/or restricted stock units to be issued in the future. As of  June 30, 2024, the Company’s board of directors has not yet determined the number of shares of the Company’s common stock and/or restricted stock units to be issued to the CEO as such compensation.

 

Legal Proceedings 

 

During the three months ended June 30, 2023, the Company recorded legal settlement expenses relating to potential claims arising in connection with litigation brought against the Company by certain third parties that were not material and were included in general and administrative expenses in the accompanying consolidated statement of operations.

 

On February 23, 2023, Cherri Bell filed a complaint in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles against the PodcastOne Sales, LiveOne and Mr. Kit Gray, the Company’s President. The complaint alleges several causes of action allegedly arising out of plaintiff’s employment with PodcastOne Sales, including claims for retaliation in violation of California Labor Code §1102.5, wrongful termination in violation of public policy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiff is seeking damages, which shall be determined at trial, if any, plus interest, attorneys’ fees and costs and other such relief as the court may award. The defendants have denied plaintiffs’ claims, and the Company believes that the allegations are without merit and that the defendants have strong defenses. The Company intends to vigorously defend all defendants against any liability to the plaintiff. The defendants have also filed a motion to compel arbitration in this matter. As of the date of this filing, while the Company has assessed that the likelihood of a loss, if any, is not probable, the outcome of this lawsuit is inherently uncertain and the potential range of loss could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

From time to time, the Company is involved in legal proceedings and other matters arising in connection with the conduct of its business activities. Many of these proceedings may be at the preliminary stages and/or seek an indeterminate amount of damages. In the opinion of management, after consultation with legal counsel, such routine claims and lawsuits are not significant and we do not currently expect them to have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, or liquidity.