As extensive as Spotify's music catalog is, there are bound to be a fair share of lawsuits that come its way.
Billboard is reporting that the streaming music service has been slapped by a $150 million class action lawsuit by Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven frontman David Lowery and his retained law firm, Michelman & Robinson, LLP.
The lawsuit alleges that Spotify broke the law by knowingly and willingly reproducing and distributing copyrighted music without owning the necessary mechanical licenses that go with them.
Sources tell Billboard that Spotify is more than prepared for instances like these, as it created a reserve fund of $17 million to $25 million to pay for royalties that go along with song use. This lawsuit is the latest to hit Spotify, which is already in the middle of battling the National Music Publishers Association over music that hasn't been correctly licensed and whose mechanical royalty payments haven't been made.
Delving deeper into this class action lawsuit, which was reportedly filed on Monday, Lowery, led by Michelman & Robinson, LLP, alleges that Spotify distributed copyrighted music to upwards of 75 million users without locating the owners of the selections for payment.
According to Billboard, the lawsuit states that the music streaming service "publicly" admitted its failure to obtain mechanical payment licenses and furthermore that its reserve fund for royalty payments have been "wrongfully withheld from artists."
Let's see how this complaint plays out.
