Spotify Socked With $150M Lawsuit Over Royalties

Spotify was hit Monday with a lawsuit claiming at least $150 million in damages for unpaid royalties.

According to The Hill, the lawsuit, which asks to be treated as a class action, was filed by David Lowery, who performs with the bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker and has long been a critic of music streaming services.

His lawsuit claims that Spotify has distributed music “without mechanical licenses in an egregious, continuous and ongoing campaign of deliberate copyright infringement.” Calling the alleged infringement “knowing and willful,” the lawsuit argues that the company streams music without tracking down the people who hold the copyright on the recording.

Lowery’s lawsuit also claims that Spotify maintains a fund “wherein the royalty payments Spotify wrongfully withholds from artists are held.” Billboard reported on Tuesday that such a fund exists and is worth between $17 million and $25 million.

"We are committed to paying songwriters and publishers every penny,” said Spotify’s Jonathan Prince in a statement. “Unfortunately, especially in the United States, the data necessary to confirm the appropriate rightsholders is often missing, wrong, or incomplete. When rightsholders are not immediately clear, we set aside the royalties we owe until we are able to confirm their identities.”

The lawsuit claims class-action status, meaning Lowery would represent other people in a similar situation and the court would make a decision that would apply to all of them. The lawsuit hopes to encompass “owners of mechanical distribution and reproduction rights in musical compositions registered under United States federal law, which compositions were reproduced or distributed by Spotify without license or authorization since December 28, 2012.”