This morning, The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) announced that it had launched a takedown initiative against Spotify over the alleged unlicensed use of music in podcasts on its platform.
According to the NMPA, beginning Tuesday (February 4), notices will be sent to the music streaming service “to remove thousands of unlicensed uses of NMPA members’ works.”
The “takedown program” includes 19 NMPA member publishers, including Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, and Warner Chappell Music.
Over 2,500 alleged “detections of infringement” are included in the initial takedown notices. “Spotify has thousands of unlicensed songs in its podcasts, which it has done nothing to remedy,” said NMPA President and CEO David Israelite today (February 4).
Responding to the announcement on Tuesday, a Spotify spokesperson slammed the NMPA’s takedown action, calling it “a press stunt” and claiming further that the move “is a weak reaction” to the court’s dismissal of the MLC’s ‘bundling’ lawsuit against Spotify last week.
The Spotify spokesperson’s full statement reads as follows:
“This is a weak reaction to the judge dismissing the MLC’s lawsuit.
“Last summer, the NMPA claimed that there were unlicensed works in podcasts on Spotify. The fact that the NMPA waited months, despite multiple written requests by Spotify for details, which they never bothered to answer, to report these episodes only further emphasizes that this is a press stunt.
“Platforms like Spotify, which are home to millions of pieces of UGC content, regularly receive takedown requests, and, as always, we will act promptly and, where appropriate, remove the episodes in question.”
Spotify also confirmed that it has received the list of URLs from the NMPA and is investigating the takedown requests; and that the initial hundred or so include shows from The New York Times, Slate, and iHeart.
The MLC lawsuit cited by Spotify’s spokesperson in the statement above refers to the legal action brought by the Mechanical Licensing Collective against Spotify in May last year over the streaming service’s decision to reclassify its Premium subscriptions as “bundles.”
The lawsuit alleged that Spotify had underpaid royalties to songwriters and publishers as a result of the bundling move.
Spotify beat the lawsuit on Wednesday (January 29) last week, with Judge Analisa Torres of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York granting Spotify’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit “with prejudice”.
In response to the ruling, the MLC said that it was “reviewing the decision and evaluating all available options, including our right to appeal”.
The verdict arrived a few days after Spotify and Universal Music Group inked a new multi-year licensing agreement, which includes a direct licensing agreement between Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) and Spotify in the United States (plus multiple other territories).
The deal is understood to remedy the mechanical royalty discount rate that Spotify has been applying to payouts to UMPG in the United States.
Responding to the UMG x Spotify news last week (which arrived a few days prior to the MLC x Spotify ruling), NMPA President & CEO David Israelite said in a statement that the “deal between Spotify and UMPG bodes well for the industry and is a clear sign that Spotify felt the backlash to its bundling scheme”.
He added: “While we do not have details of the agreement beyond what was in the press release, it appears that it increases royalty rates which is good news for the entire industry. A rising tide lifts all boats and this signals that Spotify is coming back to the table after its disastrous attempt to manipulate royalty rates.
“As we head towards the next CRB, this should serve as a roadmap for other DSPs that songwriters should not be treated as the enemy, but should instead be treated as valued business partners.”
The NMPA’s takedown action has arrived eight months after the org sent a letter to Spotify threatening legal action against the platform, claiming that it “displays lyrics and reproduces and distributes music videos and podcasts using musical works” without permission or compensation to songwriters and publishers.
The letter demanded that “unlicensed lyrics, music videos, and podcasts be removed from the platform or Spotify will face copyright liability for continued use of these works.”
The NMPA said today (February 4) that its takedown action “is an extension of the warning issued last May”.
The NMPA also claimed in its press release today that “Spotify has been aware of this issue for years, yet has taken no meaningful action to address it in its growing catalog of podcasts”.
“Spotify will stop at nothing to undervalue songwriters on behalf of its bottom line.”
David Israelite, NMPA
Commenting on the takedown action, NMPA President & CEO David Israelite said in a statement that “Spotify has thousands of unlicensed songs in its podcasts, which it has done nothing to remedy.”
Added Israelite: “This takedown action comes as no surprise, we have warned of this issue for some time.
“Podcasts are a growing source of revenue for songwriters and publishers, and it is essential that podcasts provide lawfully produced entertainment. This is not hard to do, and Spotify knows, and has known, how to fix this problem for their users. We hope podcast hosts will stand up for their fellow creators and demand that Spotify do better.
“Spotify will stop at nothing to undervalue songwriters on behalf of its bottom line. Look no further than its recent bundling scheme and its ill-conceived appeal of songwriters’ rate increase in CRB III. We will not stop until the platform fixes its podcast problem, and all other areas where songwriters are not earning what they deserve.”
Other NMPA member publishers participating in the action include ABKCO, Anthem Entertainment, Big Machine Music, BMG, Concord Music Publishing, Downtown Music Publishing, Hipgnosis Songs Group, Kobalt, Mayimba Music, peermusic, Primary Wave Music, Reservoir, The Royalty Network, Inc., Spirit Music Group, Ultra Music Publishing, and Wixen Music Publishing.
News of the NMPA’s takedown campaign against Spotify marks the latest episode in the saga between music publishers and Spotify in the US.
In 2016, the streaming service was hit with two class-action lawsuits on behalf of songwriters, which alleged Spotify failed to pay or incorrectly paid out mechanical royalties. Spotify reached a $30 million settlement with copyright holders.
In 2019, Spotify, along with Amazon Music, went to court to appeal the CRB’s Phonorecords III agreement, under which mechanical royalty rates were to rise 44% between 2018 and 2022, from 10.5% of streamers’ US revenue to 15.1%. Spotify lost that appeal in 2022.Music Business Worldwide
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