Today In Rock: December 28th, 2017 – Spotify Gets Sued
On this day… Wixen Music Publishing, who represent Tom Petty, Neil Young, and Steely Dan, among others, sued Spotify, the streaming music provider, for approximately $1.6 billion in damages. The company was accused of playing tens of thousands of songs without licenses or compensation.
Nearly a year later, Spotify and Wixen put out a joint statement saying they had agreed to a final dismissal of the lawsuit.
“The conclusion of that litigation is a part of a broader business partnership between the parties, which fairly and reasonably resolves the legal claims asserted by Wixen Music Publishing relating to past licensing of Wixen’s catalog and establishes a mutually-advantageous relationship for the future,” said the statement.
The settlement’s undisclosed financial component was clearly below the $1.6 billion Wixen had originally demanded though it was understood that the entirety of the funds would go toward back-royalty payments, while the rest of the agreement involved how royalties would be paid going forward.
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