Twitter vs music publishers legal battle intensifies as the music publishers claim that Twitter has violated their copyright severely and is seeking damages of more than $250 million.
A group of 17 well-known music publishers has filed a lawsuit against Twitter, accusing the social networking site of extensive copyright infringement, as part of a recently publicized legal fight. These publishers claim that Twitter allows its users to share music that is protected by copyright without first getting the owners’ consent.
There are both large independent music publishers and smaller significant ones within the group of businesses using Twitter. Famous names like Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, The Royalty Network, Anthem Entertainment, and Concord are included in the lengthy list of organizations.
With thousands of infringements occurring across hundreds of thousands of occurrences on Twitter, the music publishers are requesting damages totaling more than $250 million. It’s crucial to remember that the purported copyright breaches occurred before Elon Musk bought the business in October of the previous year.
Twitter vs music publishers: Lawsuit alert
The collaboration between music publishers and other major social media platforms is a key point raised by the publishers in their legal action. It is specifically stated that sites like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat have license deals with music publishers.
The plaintiffs object to the use of copyrighted music in Twitter videos, even though Twitter may not be well known as a music streaming service. Platforms like TikTok, on the other hand, profit significantly from this type of video. The complaint gives the instance of a Twitter user who shared a screenshot showing the existence of surrounding advertising in Billie Eilish’s “You Should See Me in a Crown” music video.
To reach a deal, Twitter first had conversations with music publishers. These discussions, however, apparently came to an end in March of this year because Twitter was unwilling to foot the bill.
The lawsuit deftly uses Elon Musk’s tweets against him, referring to tweets from Twitter’s owner criticizing copyright legislation and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), as The New York Times reported.
Overzealous DMCA is a plague on humanity
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2022
Twitter’s music license refusal sparks lawsuit from record labels
According to David Israelite, president of the industry trade association the National Music Publishers’ Association, Twitter, the largest social media network, is unique in its outright refusal to grant licenses for the millions of songs available on its service. “Twitter is fully aware that every day, billions of users use its platform to leak, release, and stream music. It is no longer able to shield itself behind the DMCA and refuses to pay composers and music publishers.
The full document is accessible through Music Business Worldwide, a reputable source inside the music business, for anyone who is interested. The Federal District Court in Nashville has received the case.
These record labels are the latest to join the long list of people and organizations using Twitter. In addition to the current lawsuit filed by former Twitter workers alleging contract violations, Elon Musk’s business has also been sued for unpaid rent by several landlords in San Francisco and London. A judge authorized the Boulder, Colorado landlord to remove Twitter from an office space owing to unpaid rent at the same time as the music publishers’ complaint.
Have you heard about the upcoming Twitter account purge that is announced by Elon Musk?
Featured image credit: Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash.
