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Spotify Hit With $1.6 Billion Copyright Lawsuit

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Jan 2, 2018.

  1. Melody Bot Jan 2, 2018
    Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    Eriq Gardner, writing for The Hollywood Reporter:


    As the new year begins, the music industry could be set for an epochal moment. Hopes are running high for the first significant reform of music licensing rules in decades. The coming year may also see Spotify go public. But before any of this happens, the Stockholm, Sweden-based streaming giant must now contend with a massive new copyright lawsuit from Wixen Music Publishing, which administers the song compositions by Tom Petty, Zach De La Rocha and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, Steely Dan’s Donald ***en, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, David Cassidy, Neil Young, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, Stevie Nicks, and many others.
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  2. SPine Jan 2, 2018
    SPine

    Trusted

    I'm buying stock in Spotify as soon as they go public regardless of lawsuits
     
    Mr. Serotonin and smowashere like this.
  3. DandonTRJ Jan 2, 2018
    DandonTRJ

    ~~~ヾ(＾∇＾ Supporter

    Been expecting this lawsuit for a while now (I was involved in the initial class action work against Spotify). It's another hit to the Ferrick/Lowery settlement and more fuel for the NMPA's Music Modernization Act. Interesting times.
     
    Mr. Serotonin and Jason Tate like this.
  4. shawnhyphenray Jan 3, 2018
    shawnhyphenray

    Regular

    Good
     
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  6. DandonTRJ Jan 3, 2018
    DandonTRJ

    ~~~ヾ(＾∇＾ Supporter

    Update: Turns out the lawsuit is actually directly tied to the Music Modernization Act. Per Hypebot:
     
    Jason Tate likes this.
  7. KyleK Jan 3, 2018
    KyleK

    Let's get these people moving faster! Supporter

    Even if there were to be a huge reform, I can't help but assume it'd still only benefit the giant labels and artists, and still be difficult on the smaller, more independent ones. But maybe I'm just being cynical...
     
    Raku likes this.
  8. DandonTRJ Jan 4, 2018
    (Last edited: Jan 4, 2018)
    DandonTRJ

    ~~~ヾ(＾∇＾ Supporter

    Oh no, you're 100% right. The Music Modernization Act massively benefits major publishers -- like those atop the NMPA, the bill's progenitor -- at the expense of smaller/independent ones. They'll get practically no say in the operations of the new entity being created to oversee the royalty distribution, and if they don't know (how) to claim their royalties within three years' time, it gets split up between the major publishers based on market share instead, so there's a huge perverse incentive to keep them in the dark.
     
  9. AlwaysEvolving21 Jan 5, 2018
    AlwaysEvolving21

    Trusted Supporter