A group of music publishers in the U.S. filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Twitter, alleging the company “fuels its business with countless infringing copies of musical compositions.”
The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) – which represents 17 publishers including Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony Music Publishing and BMG Rights Management – is seeking more than $250 million U.S. in damages.
According to the claim filed in Nashville, the social media company has “knowingly facilitated, and profited from” copyright violations involving nearly 1,700 songs, including hits by Lizzo, Harry Styles, Oasis and the Rolling Stones.
It alleged Twitter continues to “reap huge profits from the availability of unlicensed music.”
The NMPA alleged that Twitter has been notified repeatedly about copyright infringements in clips of live music performances, music videos and videos synched to music but has failed to remove the content and has “continued to assist known repeat infringers with their infringement.”
The lawsuit claimed that “videos with music … attract and retain account holders and viewers, and grow the body of engaging tweets on the Twitter platform. Twitter then monetizes those tweets and users via advertising, subscriptions, and data licensing, all of which serve to increase Twitter’s valuation and revenues.”
The NMPA also claimed Twitter has an “unfair advantage” over social media platforms that have deals with publishers and labels, including Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Amazon (Twitch), Snap Inc. (Snapchat) and Google (YouTube).
The NMPA has also successfully gone after fitness company Peloton and gaming platform Roblox over the use of unlicensed music.
Twitter has not responded publicly to the lawsuit.