Sports & Entertainment Beat

In March 2016, the popular music streaming service, Spotify, reached a settlement with the National Music Publishers Association (“NMPA”) to cover billions of unlicensed streams from member publishers dating back to the service’s U.S. launch in 2011.[1] Spotify will pay $25 million to publishers and songwriters and $5 million in punitive damages—a sum many are calling an easy break for the billion dollar streaming service.[2] Those who had their mechanical license rights infringed had until June 30, 2016, to opt-in to a settlement agreement between the NMPA and Spotify. The NMPA negotiated the settlement with Spotify on behalf of its members.^[3]The pros and cons of opting-in have been hotly debated as class action lawsuits, such as those brought by singer David Lowery and singer-songwriter Melissa Ferrick, have been filed.

The Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies (AARC), an organization representing featured recording artists and sound recording copyright owners in the areas of hometaping/private copy royalties and rental/lending royalties, recently filed a federal class action lawsuit against automakers General Motors and Ford, as well as electronics manufacturers Denso and Clarion, seeking to collect royalties allegedly owed to artists, songwriters, record labels and music publishers under the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA).