Streaming leader Spotify Ltd has been hit by a new copyright lawsuit seeking US$200 million, in the second such case within weeks.
The lawsuits, each filed by individual artists in a US federal court in Los Angeles, ask a judge to create a class-action suit in which other alleged victims can collectively seek damages.
The latest lawsuit was filed on Friday by Melissa Ferrick, the Massachusetts-based indie folk singer who teaches at the prestigious Berklee College of Music and rose to prominence as Morrissey’s last-minute opening act on his 1991 tour.
Ferrick accused Spotify, which boasts of providing a massive selection of on-demand music, of failing to inform copyright owners when it created phonorecords, the files used to provide the instant music online.
Ferrick charged that the Swedish company — not wanting to delay its growth including its US launch in 2011 — took “a now familiar strategy for many digital music services; infringe now, apologize later.”
“Spotify chose expediency over licenses. Thus, while Spotify has profited handsomely from the music that its sells to its subscribers, the owners of that music [in particular, songwriters and their music publishers] have not been able to share in that success because Spotify is using their music for free,” the lawsuit said.
Her songs have been streamed or temporarily downloaded 1 million times in the past three years via Spotify but said the company did not license them as required, Ferrick said.
Ferrick’s lawsuit sought at least US$200 million on behalf of copyright holders from Spotify, a private company which says it has more than 75 million users and has been valued at US$8 billion.
Spotify late last month was hit by a class-action lawsuit filed by David Lowery, the leader of alternative rock bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven — who is also an academic.
Lowery, whose lawsuit sought at least US$150 million, also accused Spotify of failing to seek permission for copying or distributing songs.
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