Eminem’s publisher accuses Spotify of ‘willful’ copyright infringement

Eminem’s music publisher is suing Spotify for billions of “unlicensed streams” of the rapper’s songs.

According to his publisher Eight Mile Style, despite users listening to Eminem tracks billions of times, the music streaming platform has only paid a “fraction” of what it owes.

The complaint was filed at the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on Wednesday, August 21.

The Swedish streaming company has been fully aware that its Eminem streams were not licensed properly, the lawsuit alleged.

Eight Mile called out one incident in particular, which saw Spotify place Eminem’s 2002 hit “Lose Yourself” in its ‘copyright control’ category. This is reserved for songs of which Spotify doesn’t know the copyright owner.

Spotify also sent notices of intent (NOIs) to the US Copyright Office indicating its plans to obtain compulsory licences for “Lose Yourself” and other Eminem songs, the complaint said.

“To the extent Spotify claims it sent NOIs to the Copyright Office on the Eight Mile Compositions because it could not locate the copyright owners, that is absurd”, it added.

Eight Mile has accused the Swedish platform of deliberately stealing its IP.

“Spotify simply committed willful copyright infringement and did not pay for the vast majority of the more than billion unlicensed streams of one of the most well-known songs in history,” the company said.

The music publisher also took aim at Spotify’s business model. According to Eight Mile, Spotify “built its behemoth by willfully infringing on the copyrights of creators of music worldwide without building the infrastructure needed to ensure that songs appearing on the Spotify service were properly licensed or that appropriate royalties were paid”.

Spotify has been beset with multiple copyright infringement accusations recently. The company pressed ahead with its  Indian launch in February, despite a legal challenge from Warner/Chappell Music.

In June, the streaming service  settled a copyright infringement suit that had been brought by Robert Guaido, a founding member of The Four Seasons.

Guaido’s suit had raised similar concerns as those outlined in Eight Mile Style’s complaint.

“Spotify’s opaque and incomplete reporting makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to identify the extent of its infringement without access to Spotify’s internal systems and information,” it said.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

WIPR has contacted Spotify for comment.

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