Spotify have settled a $1.6 billion claim over songwriter and publishing rights for an undisclosed amount. The lawsuit was initially filed on last year on December 29 2017 by Wixen Music Publishing over over the alleged use of more than 10,000 songs without a license or compensation.
The firm looks after high profile songwriters, including Neil Young, Stevie Nicks, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, Zach De La Rocha and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machiene, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, and the late Tom Petty. Although, Spotify have struck deals with major record labels, Wixen had accused Spotify of failing to address the claims of its songwriters and publishers.
The companies released a joint statement, which read ‘Wixen Music Publishing and Spotify USA have agreed to a final dismissal of the lawsuit filed by Wixen Music Publishing late last year. The conclusion of that litigation is a part of a broader business partnership between the parties, which fairly and reasonably resolves the legal claims asserted by Wixen Music Publishing relating to past licensing of Wixen’s catalogue and establishes a mutually-advantageous relationship for the future.’
On Thursday, Beyoncé fans were excited to see that two new projects – ‘Have Your Way’ and ‘Back up, Rewind’. These two tracks had appeared on Spotify but have since then been removed, with leaks reportedly comprising of unreleased demos and old songs. However, Queen B wasn’t the only one affected by this as R&B singer SZA put on Instagram to help try and clear up the confusion: ‘These are random scratches from 2015. Def not new new. But … creative? And scary?.’ It is still unknown who is responsible for the leak.
Following Brexit, a recent report has flagged up about the potential difficulty that UK users may have with streaming sites such as Spotify. The Independent reports, ‘Portability’ regulations in place since April mean that streaming services cannot discriminate between a user at home in the UK or travelling throughout the rest of Europe. However, government documents about the potential impact of a no-deal Brexit suggests that the arrangement would ‘cease to apply.’
The Independent continued: ‘This means online content service providers will not be required or able to offer cross-border access to UK consumers under the EU Regulation. UK consumers may see restrictions to their online content services when they temporarily visit the EU.’
Meanwhile, Neil Young has launched a new launched a new subscription service and an app that collates material from his career. The Neil Young archives includes a complete back catalogue of audio and visual content. Subscribers can pay either $1.99 per month or $19.99 for a full year, to access new content that has not yet been released.
