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Eminem’s Music Publisher Sues Spotify Over Royalties, Challenges Constitutionality Of The Music Modernization Act

Eminem
By DOD News Features (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
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(CelebrityAccess) — Eminem’s publisher Eight Mile Style hit Spotify with a federal lawsuit on Wednesday, alleging the music streaming giant has been streaming the rapper’s music without obtaining licenses.

According to a legal complaint obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Eight Mile Style alleged that Spotify has not accounted to Eight Mile or paid Eight Mile for these streams but instead remitted random payments of some sort, which only purport to account for a fraction of those streams.”

The lawsuit claims that Spotify failed to identify Eminem’s music, and instead, categorized it under ‘copyright control’ which, as part of The Music Modernization Act, allows licensing of songs of uncertain ownership after a good faith effort to identify the copyright owner.

The suit also brings what may be the first major legal challenge to the MMA itself, contending that the act’s clause which limits the liability of historical copyright infringement is a violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, THR reported.

The damages Eight Mile Style claimed in the lawsuit could be substantial, amounting to billions, but they have also alternatively stipulated maximum statutory damages of $150,000 per each of the 243 Eminem songs on Spotify, or $36.45 million dollars.

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