Business
Spotify Sued For Billions After Allegedly Using Songs Illegally
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Wixen Music Publishing is reportedly suing Spotify, the Sweden-based music streaming company, for allegedly using thousands of songs without proper permission.
An exclusive license holder of songs by famous artists and groups like Tom Petty and the Doors, Wixen is accusing Spotify of failing to acquire the rights to reproduce and propagate several songs, according to Reuters. It alleges that Spotify, in part by outsourcing some of the royalty services work to a third party, was often unable or “ill-equipped to obtain all the necessary mechanical licenses.”
Wizen is trying to earn $1.6 billion in damages in a California federal court in which the complaint was filed.
Spotify has steadily grown in recent years, with more than 60 million subscribers and 140 million active users as of summer 2017. It is available in more than 61 countries and territories, and offers more than 30 million songs.
Spotify has been in hot water before for such accusations. It agreed earlier in the year to pay more than $43 million in order to settle a class action suit — similar to the aforementioned pending case — levied by several songwriters.
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