Lawsuits claim Amazon, Apple and more are streaming unlicensed music

guest · Jan 29, 2020

Lawsuits claim Amazon, Apple and more are streaming unlicensed music
10 streaming services are being taken to court by royalty collection firm
January 29, 2020
https://www.engadget.com/2020/01/29/lawsuits-unlicensed-music-streaming/

When you walk into a bar, hotel or store, you probably hear music. The same goes for when you tune into a TV channel or radio station. Those businesses are supposed to pay royalties to the artists for using their music.
Collection firms like Pro Music Rights (PMR) are tasked with monitoring these things.

PMR -- which sued Spotify last year -- alleges that 10 of the biggest services have been streaming unlicensed music from artists the company represents, and has filed lawsuits against each.
The defendants include Amazon, Apple, Deezer, Google, iHeartradio, Pandora, Rhapsody, 7digital, SoundCloud and YouTube, so this is a wide-sweeping effort on the part of PMR.

The company says it has been proactive in the matter, offering licensing deals to all 10 defendants and educating them about their obligations regarding copyright laws. These efforts had little to no effect, though -- the services have continued to stream the tracks without paying royalties.
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PMR calls their actions a "blatant disregard of the Copyright Act." The company is seeking "the maximum $150,000 for each act of willful infringement with respect to the copyrights involved in the action."
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Music Business Worldwide: After suing Spotify for mistreatment, independent music company files 10 copyright infringement lawsuits against YouTube, Apple and others

You can read the 10 lawsuits in full below: [...]

“By filing these actions, Pro Music Rights is standing up for songwriters whose creative works bring great value to all streaming services who publicly perform their music.
“Pro Music Rights will not give up the fight, no matter how long it wages.”Music Business Worldwide
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Lawsuits claim Amazon, Apple and more are streaming unlicensed music

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