The music publishing company which licenses music from about 200 artists, including Tom Petty, Neil Young, The Beach Boys, Missy Elliott, and Janis Joplin is suing Spotify for 1.6 billion.
Wixen Music Publishing filed a massive copyright lawsuit against Spotify in Calfornia federal court last Friday. The lawsuit alleges that the streaming company is using songs that are found in Wixen’s administrative catalog without the necessary licenses or compensation. The publishing company is seeking 1.6 billion in the suit as well as attorney’s fees and injunctive relief that would legally require Spotify to “develop and implement procedures for identifying and properly licensing songs.”
The complaint reads; “Prior to launching in the United States, Spotify attempted to license sound recordings by working with record labels but, in a race to be first to market, made insufficient efforts to collect the required musical composition information and, in turn, failed in many cases to license the compositions embodied within each recording or comply with the requirements of Section 115 of the Copyright Act.”
This case isn’t the first being drawn out with the streaming service. In May of last year, Spotify came to a proposed $43 million settlement to resolve the class action from songwriters led by David Lowery and Melissa Ferrick. Back in July, Spotify was hit with two other lawsuits including one from Bob Gaudio, a songwriter and founding member of the group Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Like the previous cases, it stated that Spotify hadn’t fully complied with obligations under Section 115 of the U.S. Copyright Act, which provides a compulsory license to make a mechanical reproduction of a musical composition, but only if a “notice of intention” is sent out and payments are made.
Songs currently in the Wixen’s catalog are sung by Tom Petty, Neil Young, Weezer, the Black Keys, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, and many more. Spotify’s lawyers have filed documents that argued contacts held by Wixen with songwriters do not permit them to pursue litigation on their behalf.
Wixen is an independent music publisher formed in 1978 by Randall Wixen. Wixen administers more than 50,000 songs written and/or owned by its more than 2,000 clients.
To read the full complaint, click here.
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