Spotify had one of their biggest years to date with 2017. Midway through 2017, it was announced they had over 140 million active users and 60 million paying subscribers. Despite this, they still had their own legal battles to deal with throughout the year. Unfortunately, they had to leave 2017 with another lawsuit to drag into the new year.
In a report from Hollywood Reporter, they say Spotify is getting hit with a $1.6 billion lawsuit from Wixen Music Publishing. On December 29th, Wixen filed a lawsuit against Spotify that claims they’ve been using tens of thousands of songs, including Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin” and The Doors’ “Light My Fire”, without properly compensating or licensing the songs themselves. Wixen is seeking at least $1.6 Billion as well as injunctive relief from Spotify in the lawsuit. In addition, Spotify will also have to create some sort of method to identify and license songs properly. The complaint also claim that 21 percent of the 30 million songs on the streaming service aren’t licensed either.
“Spotify brazenly disregards United States Copyright law and has committed willful, ongoing copyright infringement,” the complaint stated in court documents, “Wixen notified Spotify that it had neither obtained a direct or compulsory mechanical license for the use of the Works. For these reasons and the foregoing, Wixen is entitled to the maximum statutory relief.”
Spotify’s legal team has since responded to the case. They’re arguing that Wixen’s contract with their songwriters won’t let them take legal actions on the songwriters behalf.
