The streaming giant has found itself in a bit of a problem.
This one can make Spotify incur very low costs … and with “enough costs” we are talking billions of dollars. The Hollywood Reporter details the lawsuit published by Eminem publisher, Eight Mile Style, recently against the streaming giant. According to Eight Mile Style, Spotify has streamed 250 Detroit rapper songs without permission. They reportedly do not have a license to make Em songs available, but they are alleged to have reopened the process.
THR states that Eminem tracks are being streamed under the “Copyright Control” category created specifically for songs where the copyright holder cannot be found or identified. However, Marshall Mathers is not a foreign or unknown artist. A court document against Spotify said, “First, with its provisions, the limitation part of the responsibility of the MMA applies only to compositions unknown to the copyright owner, and to works that were previously unsuitable (compositions that previously did not match sound recordings), and not to ‘ matches’ works that DMP [Digital Music Provider] knows who owns the copyright and only infringes copyright. “
In layman’s terms, Eight Mile Style confirms that Spotify knows the songs are copyrighted and knows who the copyright is from, but continues their activities. The company also stated that they have not received accurate compensation for the billions of streams obtained by Spotify. “Spotify does not contribute to Eight Mile or pay Eight Mile for these streams, but instead sends random payments of several types, which are only intended to count a small portion of those streams,” they said. Eight Mile Style looks for an unspecified amount.