Spotify’s ongoing copyright dispute with a number of high-profile artists has been taken to the next level as Tom Petty, The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo and more reject a settlement offer from the streaming giant amid another lawsuit hitting the company.
As Billboard reports, a slew of disgruntled songwriters and publishers appeared in court last Tuesday to contest a US$43 million settlement proposed in May that the Sweden-based company hoped would hope close a class action lawsuit.
The class action lawsuit alleged that Spotify failed to pay mechanical royalties to songwriters for some of the songs on its platform, and while a deal has been struck in that case, hundreds of musicians and publishers are saying the figure is inadequate.
A statement from the group submitted to the court says the agreement is “procedurally and substantively unfair”.
It goes onto to say that, if one-quarter of the songs on Spotify (7.5million) were unlicensed, each infringed song on the platform would receive US$3.82 instead of “potential liability of up to US$150,000 per infringed composition for willful infringement and US$30,000 for nonwillful infringement, plus attorneys’ fees and costs.”
“While a discount of some amount is to be reasonably expected as part of a compromise settlement, the discount potentially afforded Spotify in this case is a 98.7% discount for nonwillful infringement and a discount for willful infringement so close to 100% as to give Spotify a practical free pass on willful infringement.”
Another group of publishers – including A4V Digital, Lakshmi Puja and Lindabet Music – filled a separate lawsuit against Spotify last Wednesday.
In building their case, Spotify has said that streaming doesn’t encompass reproduction nor distribution rights under copyright law.
If a judge approves the US$43 million settlement offer, the aforementioned musicians contesting it could opt out and file their own lawsuits.
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