Music Business Worldwide
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), sends strongly-worded legal letter to Spotify on behalf of NMPA members.
The letter to Spotify included various allegations, one of which was that the music streaming service is hosting unlicensed lyrics on its platform.
As we noted earlier today, licenses for lyrics would typically be granted by the NMPA’s members, including prominent indie publishers plus the three major publishers Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell, and Universal Music Publishing Group.
According to the NMPA’s letter, Spotify “appears to be… hosting unlicensed musical works in its lyrics, videos, and podcasts, and by distributing unauthorized reproductions, synchronizations, displays, and derivative uses of these musical works to its users”.
The NMPA demands in its letter, signed off by NMPA EVP & General Counsel, Danielle Aguirre, that any unlicensed lyrics, music videos, and podcasts available on Spotify “be removed from the platform or Spotify will face copyright liability for continued use of these works”.
Spotify has now responded. In a statement issued to MBW, a Spotify spokesperson calls the NMPA letter “a press stunt filled with false and misleading claims”.
Spotify suggests further that the music publishers’ legal threat over alleged infringement on its platform is “an attempt to deflect from the Phono IV deal that the NMPA agreed to and celebrated back in 2022”.
Spotify’s spokesperson appears to be referencing the controversy that continues to swirl in the songwriter and publisher community over the streaming platform’s decision to reclassify its Premium tiers as ‘bundles’ – combining music and audiobooks — in the US.
Under a 2022 legal settlement – aka Phonorecords IV – music publishers and music streaming services agreed that ‘bundle’ services in the States are permitted to pay a lower mechanical royalty rate to publishers and songwriters than standalone music subscription services.
Spotify’s new classification of bundles on its platform has raised the ire of the NMPA and its publisher members who are now being paid a lower mechanical royalty rate for in the US by Spotify following its ‘bundle’ reclassification.
Speaking on the MBW Podcast on April 30, NMPA boss David Israelite confirmed that the situation will “likely end up in a legal conflict.”
As we explained in an earlier report, the NMPA’s campaign against Spotify’s mechanical royalties/‘bundles’ play is separate to the legal warning issued by the NMPA today to Spotify today over the platform’s use of lyrics, podcasts, and music videos.
