Music publishers hit Twitter with $250M lawsuit over alleged copyright infringement

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Twitter lawsuit overview: 

• Who: A group of 17 music publishers, part of the National Music Publishers’ Association, filed a lawsuit for $250 million against X Corp, doing business as Twitter. 
• Why: The music publishers allege Twitter’s willful copyright infringement of music fuels its business.
• Where: The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Tennessee.

A group of 17 music producers, members of the National Music Publishers’ Association, have filed a $250 million lawsuit against X Corp, which does business as Twitter, over what it calls “willful copyright infringement.”

The plaintiffs in the Twitter music lawsuit came to that amount by claiming they deserve $150,000 for each piece of music where the copyright was infringed.

Twitter uses copyrighted music for its business and economically benefits from using that music, according to the copyright lawsuit. Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, and music appears on the platform regularly.

“The pervasive infringing activity at issue in this case is no accident,” the lawsuit states. “While the Twitter platform began as a destination for short text-based messages, Twitter widened its business model to compete more aggressively with other social media sites for users, advertisers, and subscribers. By design, the Twitter platform became a hot destination for multimedia content, with music-infused videos being of particular and paramount importance.” 

Posts with videos, including copyrighted music, perform better and have more engagement on the website, according to the lawsuit. The entire platform is filled with music that is copyrighted and Twitter knows that it and users have not obtained licenses for that music, the lawsuit alleges.

Other social media platforms have agreements with publishers, rights holders, suit says

Other social media websites, such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, have entered into agreements with rights holders and publishers to compensate music creators but Twitter music does not have the same agreements, according to the Twitter lawsuit.

This is not the only legal action targeting Twitter.

The company also is facing a class action lawsuit claiming it takes users’ telephone numbers and email addresses and uses them for advertising and marketing purposes.

Have you listened to copyrighted music on Twitter? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Stephen A. Riley, John R. Jacobson, Tim Harvey and Grace C. Peck of Riley and Jacobson PLC; and Scott A. Zebrak, Matthew J. Oppenheim, Keith Howell, Meredith Stewart, Alexander Kaplan, Carly Rothman, Andrew Guerra and Matthew Cooper of Oppenheim and Zebrak LLP.

The Twitter copyright lawsuit is Concord Music Group, et al. v. X Corp., Case No. 3:23-cv-00606, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee Nashville Division.

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