Twitter, Music Publishers Sue: “Massive Copyright Infringement”

(Adnkronos) — A coalition of music publishers including Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music and Sony Music Publishing is suing Twitter over “massive copyright infringement” affecting the companies’ respective music catalogs. Seventeen music publishers who own the rights to artists such as Drake, Taylor Swift and Adele have filed a joint lawsuit in Tennessee federal court. They are seeking more than $250 million in damages. Elon Musk’s X Corp, which owns Twitter, is the sole defendant.

“Twitter is the largest social media platform that has refused to license millions of songs,” David Israelite, chief executive officer of the National Music Publishers Association, said in a statement. “Twitter is fully aware that music is created, played and streamed on its platform by billions of people every day. It can no longer hide behind (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and refuse to pay music authors and publishers.”

Israeli accused Twitter of posting copyrighted music, music videos and other material. Under DMCA rules, Twitter and other social media websites are protected from copyright strikes for user-uploaded content, provided they agree to remove infringing content and punish erring users. However, the lawsuit alleges that Twitter failed to do so.

The lawsuit reads, “Twitter also claims to remove content quickly in response to legitimate complaints, almost always within hours, if not minutes, of the initial report.” “But the reality is that Twitter routinely ignores repeat infringers and known breaches, refusing to take simple steps to prevent these specific instances of violations that it is aware of.”

The 17 publishers suing Twitter are ABKCO Music, Anthem Entertainment, Big Machine Music, BMG Rights Management, Concord, Hipgnosis, Cobalt, Mayimba, Peer, Reservoir Media Management, Sony Music Publishing, Spirit Music Group, Royalty Network, Ultra Music Publishing , Universal Music Group Publishing, Warner Chappell and Vixen.

Twitter has long drawn the ire of music publishers, even before Musk bought the site in October 2022. In a 2020 hearing before the US Senate Subcommittee on the Judiciary, the Recording Industry Association of America accused Twitter of not taking any action to stop the “industrial-“. Scale Piracy” on his website.