Music streaming service Spotify has been hit with a pair of fresh new lawsuits, alleging the company “rules the streaming market through a pattern of willful infringement on a staggering scale.”
The move comes following Spotify moving to settle a $200 million suit in May and ahead of the company’s impending IPO on the stock market.
Bluewater Music Services Corporation claims that Spotify’s past legal battles have done little “to resolve the outstanding issues with the Spotify licensing and royalty payment system.”
They claim that the company engaged in wilful infringement through the reproduction and monetisation of 2339 songs that Bluewater is responsible for the administration of.
Bluewater estimates that around 35 billion unpaid streams were played between 2011 and the end of 2015, resulting in $15 million in unpaid royalties.
“Anything less than the maximum $150,000 statutory damage award for each of the Infringed Works involved herein would encourage infringement, amount to a slap on the wrist, and reward a multibillion dollar company, about to go public, that rules the streaming market through a pattern of willful infringement on a staggering scale,” they argue.
The other lawsuit is being brought forth by singer-songwriter Bob Gaudio, who alleges that 106 of his works are being distributed through Spotify without being fully licensed.
