Wixen Music Publishing Inc., which licenses music from around 200 artists that include Tom Petty, The Beach Boys, Neil Young, and the Doors, has sued music streaming service Spotify for US$1.6 billion for allegedly using thousands of songs” without the correct license. According to the lawsuit, Spotify didn’t get a direct or compulsory license from them to let them reproduce and distribute the songs. As mentioned in the complaint, “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.”
Wixen also claims Spotify outsourced the work to a third-party licensing and royalty provider, the Harry Fox Agency, which was “ill-equipped to obtain all the necessary licenses.” Spotify fired back by filing with the court an assertion that Wixen didn’t give its clients enough time to opt out of being included in the case. The lawsuit comes as a response to a $43 million settlement Spotify had with songwriters and publishers back in May, where the streaming service allegedly failed to pay royalties for songs it makes available to users.