Twitter is suspected of violating copyright laws regarding a number of songs and music. Prominent music labels such as Universal Music Corp., BMG, Warner Chappell, and Sony Music Publish have filed a lawsuit amounting to $250 million against the social media platform.
The lawsuit was filed by the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA), representing 17 publishers and 1,700 licensed songs, in the Federal District Court in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.
The music association stated that Twitter should pay fines of up to $150,000 for each infringement committed.
The lawsuit highlights several issues, including Twitter's possession of numerous music copies that infringe on the musical "composition," violate publishers' copyrights, and infringe on the exclusive rights of others under copyright law.
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| Twitter Illustrated (Source: CNET) |
The music labels also emphasized that Twitter's practices differ from other platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. The microblogging platform, represented by the "Larry Bird" logo, lacks agreements for the use of licensed and copyrighted music.
Interestingly, prior to the lawsuit, The New York Times reported that the music licensing agreement between Twitter's management and the music labels had been temporarily halted.
This delay was caused by Musk, who had been cutting costs since acquiring Twitter in November 2022. Such agreements would require an annual cost of at least $100 million for a large and popular platform.
The significant amount of expenses seemed to be reconsidered by Twitter. Consequently, licensed songs on the platform became uncertain.
The plaintiffs argue that Twitter is one of the platforms that allows users to upload licensed videos. Additionally, Twitter's paid feature, Twitter Blue, allows users to upload videos up to two hours in duration.
According to NMPA President David Israelite, Twitter is the largest social media platform but refuses to license millions of songs on its platform, as quoted by Metis Media from Tech Crunch on Saturday, June 17, 2023.
"Twitter stands as the largest social media platform that outright refuses to license millions of songs on its platform," David explained.
David also pointed out that Twitter is well aware that music is leaked, circulated, released, and even broadcasted by billions of people every day on its platform.
"Twitter knows full well that songs are leaked, introduced, and broadcasted by billions of people every day on its platform. It can no longer hide behind the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and refuse to pay songwriters and music publishers," added David.
On a different occasion, Musk himself mentioned that the current copyright laws have become extremely absurd in protecting the creations of artists.
He also referred to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) as a "disaster" for humanity.
Therefore, since CEO Linda Yaccarino took over Twitter, formerly the Head of Advertising and Global Partnerships at NBC Universal, David tweeted that the primary task at hand is to resolve the issue of unlicensed music on the platform.