Spotify has just been hit with a class action suit, and it's a big one. Musician, David Lowery, of the rock bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven is suing Spotify for $150 million in royalties.
Lowery filed the suit on Monday (Dec. 28) in court and as per his law firm, Michelman & Robinson, it states that Spotify, ""knowingly, willingly, and unlawfully reproduces and distributes copyrighted" music. Lowery filed the case on behalf of himself and other artists that are accusing Spotify of these actions.
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Central California, can lead to payments between $750 and $150,000 for each law violation. If you do the math, that is a lot of money Spotify could potentially dish out if the court side with Lowery.
Spotify's global head of communications and public policy, Jonathan Prince, released a statement to Billboard about the suit:
"We are committed to paying songwriters and publishers every penny. Unfortunately, especially in the United States, the data necessary to confirm the appropriate rightsholders is often missing, wrong, or incomplete. When rightsholders are not immediately clear, we set aside the royalties we owe until we are able to confirm their identities. We are working closely with the National Music Publishers Association to find the best way to correctly pay the royalties we have set aside and we are investing in the resources and technical expertise to build a comprehensive publishing administration system to solve this problem for good."
This quote shows that Spotify was well aware of their actions but until a court makes a decision, it's unknown how much they will have to pay, if anything.
Back in 2014, Taylor Swift pulled all her music from the streaming service because she felt that artists weren't receiving the amount of royalties deserved. Adele has also decided against having her recent album 25 stream on Spotify.
