Eminem publisher sues Spotify over billions of reportedly unpaid streams
It looks like Spotify could be in trouble after the team behind Eminem filed a major copyright infringement lawsuit against the streaming giant.
Em’s publisher Eight Mile Style has accused Spotify of reproducing nearly 250 of the rapper’s songs without consent, totaling damages that could be in the billions.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, the suit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Nashville.
The lawsuit “accuses Spotify of willful copyright infringement” on nearly 250 of Eminem’s tracks including hits such as “Lose Yourself.”
A copy of the suit claims the streaming giant has no license for these compositions. Additionally, while the tracks have accumulated billions of streams, Eight Mile Style not been paid for all of them.
“Spotify has not accounted to Eight Mile or paid Eight Mile for these streams but instead remitted random payments of some sort, which only purport to account for a fraction of those streams.”
Additionally, the lawsuit states Spotify placed “Lose Yourself” into a category called “Copyright Control.”
This category is reserved for songs in which the owner is unknown.
“First, by its terms, the MMA liability limitation section only applies to compositions for which the copyright owner was not known, and to previously unmatched works (compositions not previously matched with sound recordings), and not to ‘matched’ works for which the DMP [Digital Music Provider] knew who the copyright owner was and just committed copyright infringement,” the complaint states.
In other words, Eight Mile Style believes Spotify knew they owned the tracks. Even if they didn’t, they “did not engage in the required commercially reasonable efforts to match sound recordings with the Eight Mile Compositions as required by the MMA.”
The lawsuit seeks Spotify’s substantial profits. However, should the plaintiffs fail to prove Spotify benefited from its failure to secure licenses, they’ll seek alternative relief. The alternative will ask for $150,000 for each of the 243 songs, totaling $36.45 million.
You can read a copy of the lawsuit here.
What are your thoughts on the lawsuit from Eminem’s publisher? Sound off in the comments below!
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