Spotify Sued, Yet Again, Over Compositions
On Tuesday, two separate lawsuits were filed against Spotify in Nashville's federal court over a single issue. Both Bluewater Music, an independent publisher and copyright administration company, and Robert Gaudio, a founding member of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons – and a songwriter behind the enduring hits "Sherry" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" — accuse the streaming service of improperly licensing song compositions.
"Spotify's apparent business model from the outset was to commiton to claim that acknowledging Spotify's failures around the licensing of compositions from songwriters and publishers are "woefully inadequate," in part due to the ownership stakes that major labels (and by extension their subsidiary music publishing companies) have in the company. The suits argue that these stakes, which comprise about 18 percent equity in Spotify, mean the previous settlements were essentially lowballs in order to protect the windfall of cash the major labels stand to receive when Spotify becomes a publicly traded company, expected later this year.
