Twitter is being sued by the National Music Publishers’ Association for allegedly violating copyright law by allowing users to post music on the platform without permission.
The National Music Publishers’ Association filed a $250 million lawsuit in Nashville, Tennessee, against Elon Musk’s social media company on Wednesday, arguing Twitter engaged in “massive” copyright infringement of approximately 1,700 songs. The suit states Twitter should be fined up to $150,000 for each violation, according to the Verge.
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“Twitter fuels its business with countless infringing copies of musical compositions, violating Publishers’ and others’ exclusive rights under copyright law,” the NMPA lawsuit reads.
The association acted on behalf of 17 music labels, such as Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, and Sony Music Publishing, all of which represent some of the world’s biggest artists, including Katy Perry, Rihanna, Drake, Adele, and Taylor Swift, among others.
Twitter, unlike YouTube and Facebook, has no licensing deals with music publishers.
“Twitter permits and encourages infringement, including of Publishers’ musical compositions,” according to the suit, “so that it can continue to reap huge profits from the availability of unlicensed music without paying the necessary licensing fees for it.”
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“Twitter’s change in ownership in October 2022 has not led to improvements in how it acts with respect to copyright,” the document states, referring to Musk. “On the contrary, Twitter’s internal affairs regarding matters pertinent to this case are in disarray.”
Musk has yet to publicly respond to the association’s lawsuit.
