Spotify sued for $1.6 billion by Wixen Music Publishing

The Los Angeles-based company called Wixen Music Publishing has filed a massive copyright lawsuit against Spotify in California federal court. According to the documents, the company alleges that Daniel Ek’s platform is hosting tens of thousands of Wixen-managed songs without a sufficient mechanical copyright license and is now seeking statutory damages in excess of $1.6bn (or $150,000 per song) for "willful copyright infringement" - in addition to attorney’s fees and injunctive relief that would legally require Spotify to “develop and implement procedures for identifying and properly licensing songs”.

You can read the full paper clicking here, via Scribd.

Wixen president Randall Wixen also stated:

We’re just asking to be treated fairly. We are not looking for a ridiculous punitive payment. But we estimate that our clients account for somewhere between 1% and 5% of the music these services distribute. Spotify has more than $3 billion in annual revenue and pays outrageous annual salaries to its executives and millions per month for ultra-luxurious office space in various cities. All we’re asking for is for them to reasonably compensate our clients by sharing a miniscule amount of the revenue they take in with the creators of the product they sell. Music fans should be able to enjoy Spotify, knowing that their favorite artists are being treated fairly.

Wixen’s catalog at the moment includes songs by Tom Petty, Neil Young, Weezer, the Black Keys, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, and many more. Lawyers for Spotify have filed documents arguing that the contracts Wixen holds with songwriters do not give them permission to pursue litigation on their behalf.