Eminem‘s publisher, Eight Mile Style is suing Spotify for copyright breach. Spotify is sued for willful copyright infringement due to reproducing ‘Lose Yourself‘ and roughly 250 other tracks from the rapper. Eight Mile Style alleges that these tracks aren’t licensed by Eminem nor was Eight Mile paid for these streams as supposed to.
Some of the rapper’s most known tracks are put into the “Copyright Control” category by Spotify. This category is reserved for tracks whose copyright holder cannot be identified. Eight Mile states that it is “absurd” that the iconic, Oscar winning song can’t be identified.
The Music Modernization Act (MMA) was passed by President Trump to assist with music licensing and give credit appropriately. In a copy of the complaint obtained by The Hollywood Reporter it states:
“First, by its terms, the MMA liability limitation section only applies to compositions for which the copyright owner was not known, and to previously unmatched works (compositions not previously matched with sound recordings), and not to ‘matched’ works for which the DMP [Digital Music Provider] knew who the copyright owner was and just committed copyright infringement.”
This lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the MMA. Additionally, this could cost Spotify billions of dollars as well as change the MMA.
