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Music Streaming Giant Spotify Faces $1.6 Billion Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

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Spotify is facing its biggest lawsuit yet as the music streaming company was hit by a lawsuit from Wixen Music Publishing Inc last week for allegedly featuring thousands of songs, including those of famous acts such as Tom Petty, Neil Young, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Doors, without an approved license and compensation to the music publisher.

Wixen, who holds the exclusive licensee of songs such as “Free Fallin” by Tom Petty, “Light My Fire” by the Doors, “(Girl We Got a) Good Thing” by Weezer and works of singers such as Stevie Nicks, is seeking damages of $150,000 per song, the maximum award possible under the U.S. Copyright Act. This brings the total damages requested by the lawsuit to $1.6 billion along with injunctive relief.

According to the aforementioned act, there are two separate copyrights for every recorded song: one for the sound recording and one for the musical composition (the song’s words and musical notation).

According to Wixen, Spotify “took a shortcut” by obtaining necessary rights to the songs’ sound recordings, but failing to obtain the equivalent rights for compositions.

According to the lawsuit, which Qixen filed in a California federal court last week, Spotify failed to get a direct or a compulsory license from Wixen that would allow it to reproduce and distribute the songs.

This isn’t the first time Spotify has fallen in such troubles. Back in May the Sweden-based company agreed to pay more than $43 million to settle a proposed class action alleging it failed to pay royalties for some of the songs it makes available to users.

Currently Spotify is valued at $19 billion, a 20 percent increase in value in the past few months. The company is planning a stock market listing this year.

$100 Million Lawsuit Hits Fyre Festival

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Who didn’t see this one coming?

Fyre Festival founders Ja Rule and Billy MacFarland are now the subject of a $100 million lawsuit filed by celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos in the State of California.

The report comes from Variety, which reports that Geragos wants class-action status for the suit he is filing, which he expects to include more than 150 plaintiffs. Filed on behalf of plaintiff Daniel Jung, the lawsuit is asking for “$5 million in damages for alleged fraud, breach of contract, breach of covenant of good faith, and negligent misrepresentation,” according to Variety.

The world’s social media networks, blogs and even mainstream news all covered what was possibly the biggest music festival failure and cultural meltdown in recent history, with celebrities and other non-industry heavyweights weighing in with their thoughts, opinions and troll/jokes on social media. This was followed by Fyre Festival co-founder Billy MacFarland coming on record with an apology, describing it as the “worst day of his life.” Ja Rule, the other founder of Fyre Festival, stuck with a short uninspired Twitter “apology” and nothing less.

The suit’s claims are not a surprise, citing the “festival’s lack of adequate food, water, shelter, and medical care created a dangerous and panicked situation among attendees,” who found themselves “stranded on a remote island without basic provisions.” It further states that the experience “was closer to The Hunger Games or Lord of the Flies than Coachella.”

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Bose Accused of Spying on Its Users

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Audio giant Bose has come under fire recently as a lawsuit claims it was spying on its users.

In a complaint filed in Chicago, the plaintiff by the name of Kyle Zak seeks an injunction against Bose for its “wholesale disregard” for the privacy of customers who download its free Bose Connect app from Apple or Google Play app stores to their phones.

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