Music Publishers Accuse Spotify of Copyright Infringement

[MacRumors]

The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) today sent a cease and desist letter to Spotify, accusing the music streaming service of using its members' copyrighted content without appropriate licensing. The letter was shared by Billboard, and it suggests that Spotify is "hosting unlicensed musical works in its lyrics, videos, and podcasts."

Spotify has been asked to remove the unlicensed content from its platform or face a "copyright liability" for its continued use. The NMPA is a trade association that represents music publishers and songwriters in the U.S., and the group focuses on protecting music copyrights.

The NMPA claims that while Spotify has mechanical and public performance licenses, the use of lyrics and music in videos and podcasts requires rights that must be negotiated directly with rightsholders.

It has come to our attention that Spotify displays lyrics and reproduces and distributes music videos and podcasts using musical works without the consent of or compensation to the respective publishers and/or administrators (our members) who control the copyrights in the musical compositions. As such, these uses of musical works on the Spotify platform are not licensed or will soon become unlicensed.

U.S. copyright law generally grants copyright owners the exclusive right to, among other things, reproduce, distribute, display, perform publicly, and create derivative works from their copyrighted works under 17 U.S.C. Sn. 106. Violation of these exclusive rights constitutes copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. Sn. 501.

Spotify thus appears to be engaged in direct infringement by hosting unlicensed musical works in its lyrics, videos, and podcasts, and by distributing unauthorized reproductions, synchronizations, displays, and derivative uses of these musical works to its users. Making matters worse, Spotify profits from such infringement.

Accordingly, on behalf of our members, NMPA demands that unlicensed lyrics, music videos, and podcasts be removed from the platform or Spotify will face copyright liability for continued use of these works.

A spokesperson for Spotify told Billboard that the letter is a "press stunt filled with false and misleading claims." Spotify went on to say that it paid a "record amount" to songwriters in 2023, and is on track to surpass that amount in 2024.

Article Link: Music Publishers Accuse Spotify of Copyright Infringement

 

[MacLawyer]

I was wondering how Spotify paid for content.

 

[SoldOnApple]

Maybe this is why Apple Music is missing so many music videos, because the publishers won't license them all?

 

[gleepskip]

This is about lining the pockets of lawyers and record execs. If more money is extracted from Spotify as a result of this, musicians will see an extra penny in their royalty check each month.

 

[bigpoppa]

I was wondering how Spotify paid for content.

They don’t. At least not as much as Apple pays.

 

[eboychik]

This is about lining the pockets of lawyers and record execs. If more money is extracted from Spotify as a result of this, musicians will see an extra penny in their royalty check each month.

This is about the songwriters, not the musicians who perform their songs.

 

[jvchappy]

So they can play the music but if they display the lyrics to those songs, that's infringement? Sounds like they're arguing over semantics, and if this is what copyright law had intended, it all needs to be torn down.

 

[CapitalIdea]

This is about lining the pockets of lawyers and record execs. If more money is extracted from Spotify as a result of this, musicians will see an extra penny in their royalty check each month.

It doesn’t matter, as long as they are entitled to that penny.

 

[threeseed]

So they can play the music but if they display the lyrics to those songs, that's infringement? Sounds like they're arguing over semantics, and if this is what copyright law had intended, it all needs to be torn down.

I agree let's tear it all down.

Now did you get your Legal degree from Macrumors University or a proper college ?

 

[Jensend]

They don’t. At least not as much as Apple pays.

Both pay the same when you normalize for region and service level.

People in poorer counties pay less for subscriptions. A higher percentage of Spotify's customers come from poorer counties.

Spotify has an ad-supported radio play option. With radio play, users can't pick individual songs to listen to. The rights holders negotiated a lower rate for that service.

Also, Spotify claims that their customers, on average, listen to more songs per month than Apple Music subscribers. With a fixed monthly fee, that means that customers who listen more pay less per stream.

If you use either a $11 Spotify subscription or an $11 Apple Music subscription, about $7.70 of each subscription should be going to the rights holders.

Or did you think Apple was voluntarily paying more than they were required to? Or that Apple is worse at negotiating than Spotify?

 

[skit911]

The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) today sent a cease and desist letter to Spotify, accusing the music streaming service of using its members' copyrighted content without appropriate licensing. The letter was shared by Billboard, and it suggests that Spotify is "hosting unlicensed musical works in its lyrics, videos, and podcasts."

Spotify has been asked to remove the unlicensed content from its platform or face a "copyright liability" for its continued use. The NMPA is a trade association that represents music publishers and songwriters in the U.S., and the group focuses on protecting music copyrights.

The NMPA claims that while Spotify has mechanical and public performance licenses, the use of lyrics and music in videos and podcasts requires rights that must be negotiated directly with rightsholders.

A spokesperson for Spotify told Billboard that the letter is a "press stunt filled with false and misleading claims." Spotify went on to say that it paid a "record amount" to songwriters in 2023, and is on track to surpass that amount in 2024.

Article Link: Music Publishers Accuse Spotify of Copyright Infringement

Garbage company.

 

[wbeasley]

The EU must not have copyright laws... not heard a peek about their beloved Spotify breaking rules there

 

[CookItOff]

The EU must not have copyright laws... not heard a peek about their beloved Spotify breaking rules there

It may cut into their kickback fund so… 😂😁

 

[HQuest]

Yet Spotify complains Apple don’t give them more freedom to do large scale piracy…

 

[Voenix Rising]

And this, children, is why I buy physical media. It won't just "disappear" at the whim of some corporate entity.

 

[mentaluproar]

They don’t. At least not as much as Apple pays.

It's my understanding that Apple doesn't pay artists well either.

 

[rorschach]

press stunt filled with false and misleading claims

Oh the incredible irony of this statement coming from Spotify.

 

[Analog Kid]

A spokesperson for Spotify told Billboard that the letter is a "press stunt filled with false and misleading claims."

They have some expertise in this area, so know of what they speak.

 

[dcjames]

So they can play the music but if they display the lyrics to those songs, that's infringement? Sounds like they're arguing over semantics, and if this is what copyright law had intended, it all needs to be torn down.

It is not semantics. Spotify's license is for serving artists' recordings of a particular composition. They are not licensed to publish the lyrics to that composition, just as a theatre is not licensed to publish the script of a play they are showing. Just because Spotify has the lyrics doesn't mean they can republish them without a license, because that would be a copyright violation, and that's exactly the situation the law intends to address. Republishing performances is completely different than republishing the performances' source material.

 

[canadianreader]

This is about lining the pockets of lawyers and record execs. If more money is extracted from Spotify as a result of this, musicians will see an extra penny in their royalty check each month.

All of these music labels, lawyers, Apple Music, Spotify etc fighting for a lost cause.
Already music is being created by AI with lyrics.. some truly amazing breakthroughs. In a few years the whole music industry will change forever.

 

[rorschach]

All of these music labels, lawyers, Apple Music, Spotify etc fighting for a lost cause.
Already music is being created by AI with lyrics.. some truly amazing breakthroughs. In a few years the whole music industry will change forever.

AI “art” is garbage and will always be so because truly great art is borne from real human emotion and experiences. Sure, AI will probably be used to make jingles for commercials. But it will never be the same, because art is more than just the end product.

Mass produced paintings have been around for a very long time. There’s a market for them, but nobody would ever hang them in a museum. Or travel across the world to see them in person.

 

[lfaa]

It's my understanding that Apple doesn't pay artists well either.

All of these music labels, lawyers, Apple Music, Spotify etc fighting for a lost cause.
Already music is being created by AI with lyrics.. some truly amazing breakthroughs. In a few years the whole music industry will change forever.

Did you listen to the ai generated song? Still super boring . Pfff and the lyrics… no comments. Their song-generation prgm has built some sort of super mean song of thousands it has in its database but creativity is not exactly that.

 

[cupcakes2000]

And this, children, is why I buy physical media. It won't just "disappear" at the whim of some corporate entity.

Well, until you can no longer buy the player to play it on. Go you for not supporting some corporate entities!

 

[canadianreader]

AI “art” is garbage and will always be so because truly great art is borne from real human emotion and experiences. Sure, AI will probably be used to make jingles for commercials. But it will never be the same, because art is more than just the end product.

Mass produced paintings have been around for a very long time. There’s a market for them, but nobody would ever hang them in a museum. Or travel across the world to see them in person.

I understand your point which is valid but it doesn't matter what we think of it. What matters is it will become popular and gradually will replace at least partially music produced by big corporations.

 

[canadianreader]

Did you listen to the ai generated song? Still super boring . Pfff and the lyrics… no comments. Their song-generation prgm has built some sort of super mean song of thousands it has in its database but creativity is not exactly that.

Like they say in the world of AI what you're seeing or hearing now is the worst it only gets better from here on out.