The National Music Publishers Assn., acting on behalf of 17 major music publishers, is filing a federal copyright infringement lawsuit against Twitter for its failure to license and pay for the music widely available on its platform, Variety reported.
The complaint seeks more than $250 million in damages for hundreds of thousands of noticed infringements of approximately 1,700 works.
“Twitter fuels its business with countless infringing copies of musical compositions, violating Publishers’ and others’ exclusive rights under copyright law,” the complaint reads in part. “While numerous Twitter competitors recognize the need for proper licenses and agreements for the use of musical compositions on their platforms, Twitter does not, and instead breeds massive copyright infringement that harms music creators…
“Twitter knows perfectly well that neither it nor users of the Twitter platform have secured licenses for the rampant use of music being made on its platform as complained of herein,” it continues. “Nonetheless, in connection with its highly interactive platform, Twitter consistently and knowingly hosts and streams infringing copies of musical compositions, including ones uploaded by or streamed to Tennessee residents and including specific infringing material that Twitter knows is infringing. Twitter also routinely continues to provide specific infringers with use of the Twitter platform, which they use for more infringement. Twitter profits handsomely from its infringement of Publisher’s repertoires of musical compositions…
“Twitter’s unlawful conduct has caused and continues to cause substantial and irreparable harm to Publishers, their songwriter clients, and the entire music ecosystem. Twitter’s unlawful conduct enriches Twitter at Publishers’ and their songwriters’ expense and to the detriment of their copyrighted musical compositions. Twitter has rebuffed calls for it to obtain the licenses or other agreements needed for musical compositions to be lawfully used on its platform.”
An email to Twitter’s press account requesting comment returned an auto reply with a poop emoji.
The Hollywood Reporter wrote that three major music conglomerates – Universal, Sony and Warner – joined by other publishers, on Wednesday sued Twitter for at least $250 million over the alleged infringement of roughly 1,700 works for which it received hundreds of thousands of takedown notice.
They allege the company “consistently and knowingly hosts and streams infringing copies of music compositions” to “fuel its business.” Twitter has rebuffed calls for it to obtain the proper licenses, according to the suit.
Mashable reported that a group of 17 music publishers have filed a lawsuit against Twitter alleging that rampant copyright infringement on the social network. According to the publishers, Musk’s company allows users to share music on the platform without permission from the copyright holders.
In their lawsuit, the publishers point out that pretty much every other major social media platform has worked with music publishers. The lawsuit specifically names TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat as platforms that they have entered licensing deals with.
It seems to me that Elon Musk could potentially face legal problems if Twitter doesn’t do something to appease the rights-holders of the music. Big companies like Universal, Sony, and Warner Brothers are not going to play around!