Skip to main content

Spotify and Wixen settle the music publishing company’s $1.6 billion lawsuit

By

Spotify and music publishing company Wixen have mutually agreed to dismiss the $1.6 billion lawsuit Wixen filed back in 2017. The lawsuit Wixen brought against the streaming service argued that Spotify was using songs from artists it represented — like Tom Petty and Rage Against the Machine — illegally as Spotify had not sent physical letters to songwriters to obtain “a direct or compulsory mechanical license” for use on the platform.

In addition to the complaint that Spotify was engaging in copyright infringement by neglecting to send these paper notifications, Wixen also claimed that Spotify was failing to pay out songwriter royalties about 21 percent of the time. As compensation, it asked for $150,000 in statutory damages per song, which is how the company arrived at the $1.6 billion price tag.

Wixen and Spotify announced the dissolution of the lawsuit in a statement.

Wixen Music Publishing, Inc. and Spotify USA Inc. have agreed to a final dismissal of the lawsuit filed by Wixen Music Publishing late last year. The conclusion of that litigation is a part of a broader business partnership between the parties, which fairly and reasonably resolves the legal claims asserted by Wixen Music Publishing relating to past licensing of Wixen’s catalog and establishes a mutually-advantageous relationship for the future.

TechCrunch notes that the two entities had been working toward a resolution for some time. Earlier this year, a judge granted an extension to respond to the filing because there were “ongoing settlement discussions.” This continuance gave the courts until December 21st to respond.

In the future, the Music Modernization Act should solve this specific issue from being a problem. One component of the MMA is that it’s ending the bulk notice of intent process for songwriters, which requires the delivery of the paper notices Wixen originally filed its lawsuit over. However, the new MMA laws only apply to royalty disputes that occur after January 1st of 2018, which means the Wixen dispute is exempt.



from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2QLay9B
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Magic Leap is shipping across (most of) the US

By
As Magic Leap holds the first developer conference for its Magic Leap One mixed reality headset, that headset has started shipping across the contiguous United States, instead of in a set of select markets. The Magic Leap One Creator Edition costs $2,295, just like before, but there’s now an installment plan that starts at $96 per month. All orders are supposed to arrive within 60 days. The Magic Leap One Creator Edition went on sale in early August, and while Magic Leap has touted it as a fully functional device, it’s basically meant for people who want to design apps, games, or art for mixed reality. We were ambivalent toward the hardware, which we found limited, and we noted that Magic Leap hadn’t shown off a lot of material that showcased its potential. The company’s developer conference keynote has revealed several new projects. Among other things, Spider-Man studio Insomniac Games is building an experience that will let you grow a holographic creature on your tabletop, and...
Post a Comment
Read more

US carriers introduce Project Verify to replace individual app passwords

By
Four major US carriers — AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon — are joining forces to launch a single sign-on service for smartphones. The service, called Project Verify , authenticates app logins so that users don’t need to memorize passwords for all their apps. The companies say their solution verifies users through their phone number, phone account type, SIM card details, IP address, and account tenure. Essentially, your phone serves as the verification method with details that are hard to spoof. Users have to manually grant apps permission to use Verify, and it works similarly to how you might log into some services through Gmail or Facebook instead of using a unique account password. Of course, these apps also have to choose to work with Verify, and the program hasn’t listed any partners or when it intends to launch. The service can serve as your two-factor authentication method, too, instead of an emailed or texted code that can be intercepted. Users might not be totally sa...
1 comment
Read more