Major music companies sue Twitter for making money off copyright infringed work

Three major music conglomerates namely, Universal, Sony, and Warner have jointly sued Twitter for $250 million over the alleged infringement of music that belongs to them. This matter concerns about 1700 works for which the social media platform received hundreds of takedown notices but did nothing. The lawsuit accuses Twitter of mass copyright infringement.

Twitter making money off someone else's music, claims suit

The trio alleges that Twitter “fuels its business” by “consistently and knowingly hosts and streams infringing copies of music compositions”. The lawsuit claims that Twitter has never tried to obtain the proper licenses for running its music.

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Currently, Twitter is the only major social media platform without music licensing deals. Hence it allows websites to legally host videos and other content featuring publishers’ music. Meanwhile, other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat have entered into agreements that compensate creators of musical compositions for the use of their work.

The lawsuit against Twitter was filed in a court in Tennessee, United States. The lawsuit reads, “The availability of videos with music, including copies of Publishers’ musical compositions, furthers Twitter’s financial interests both because it drives user engagement, and thus advertising revenue, and because Twitter does not pay fees to license musical compositions from Publishers and other music rights holders. Indeed, providing free, unlicensed music gives the Twitter platform an unfair advantage over competing platforms.”

Twitter doesn't punish repeat offenders who infringe, claims suit

The complaint points out examples of repeat offenders who have been issued notices of infringement time and again but have done nothing about it since the host platform doesn’t levy any penalty. “Twitter then monetizes those tweets and users via advertising, subscriptions, and data licensing, all of which serve to increase Twitter’s valuation and revenues,” states the filing.

The publishers stress that Twitter failed to implement a policy to terminate repeat infringers. The suit claims, “Users who repeatedly infringe copyrights do not face a realistic prospect of permanently losing access to their accounts on the Twitter platform. Rather than terminating access to specific users brought to its attention as infringers, which would have stopped or limited their infringement and deterred others from infringing, Twitter has operated its platform to be a haven for infringing activity.”

Music companies are seeking$150,000 for each infringed work

The lawsuit is seeking $150,000 for each infringed work. It claims direct copyright infringement, contributory infringement, and vicarious infringement. The 17 publishers that sued are represented by the National Music Publishers Association. They include Anthem Entertainment, Big Machine Music, BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing America, and Spirit Music Group, among others.

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