Spotify Hit With $150M Class Action Royalties Lawsuit

Vocativ reports:

Spotify is facing a $150 million class action lawsuit—led by David Lowery, the frontman for the band Cracker—arguing that Spotify hasn’t been securing the proper licenses for all of the music it offers, and hasn’t been paying royalties to all deserving parties.

Using his own tracks as examples, Lowery claims that Spotify has been willfully operating in this manner, and believes any victims should be entitled to a maximum settlement. The complaint stipulates that those affected receive a payout ranging between $750 and $30,000 for any work that has been illegally distributed, and up to $150,000 for any of those works that were willfully distributed.

For its part, Spotify says that it has set aside royalties for songs where publishing rights aren’t entirely clear, and will pay out royalties when affected artists make a rightful claim. It has also pledged to work with the National Music Publishers Association to build a comprehensive database to improve the process, and allow artists to claim their rightful royalties, which, according to Billboard sources, is somewhere between $17 million and $25 million.

Hit the link for more.