Universal Music Group (UMG), ABKCO and Concord Music Group have filed a lawsuit against Believe and its distribution company TuneCore, accusing them of “massive continuous infringement” of their recordings, including tracks by Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, ABBA, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, DJ Snake, Aqua and more. The companies are seeking damages of “at least $500,000,000.”
In a complaint filed Monday night (Nov. 4) in Manhattan federal court by Andrew Bart and Giannis Servodido In Jenner & Block, UMG, ABKCO and Concord Music Group accuse Believe of being “inundated with fraudulent 'artists' and pirated record labels and distributing copies of these fraudulent recordings to various streaming services and social networking sites.”
The plaintiffs' lawyers claim that “Believe makes little effort to hide its illegal actions” and that the alleged infringements are “often minor variations on the names of … famous artists and titles of their most successful works.” The complaint states that the alleged fraudsters attempt to avoid detection of the allegedly infringing recordings — some of which, they claim, are “speeded up” or “remixed” versions of popular songs — by using misspellings of the names of popular artists, including “Kendrik Laamar, “Ariana Gramde”, “Jutin Bieber” and “Lady Gaga”.
“Believe it is fully aware that its business model is fueled by rampant piracy” in “pursuit of rapid growth,” the suit claims, adding that the company has “turned a blind eye” to infringing content making its way onto social media and services. streaming through its platform.
In addition, lawyers for UMG and the other plaintiffs say that “Believe exploited the content management claims system” at YouTube “to divert” and “delay … the payment of royalties” belonging to the labels. It is “saying,” they add, that once YouTube resolves these disputes over the legal ownership of these recordings, “Believe Continue[s] to distribute the exact same track to other providers of digital music services and to seek rights for the use of that track by those providers.”
This is not the first time that bad actors have been accused of using YouTube's content management system to claim rights that are not rightfully theirs. In 2022, two men in Phoenix, Arizona pleaded guilty to claiming $23 million worth of YouTube royalties from unknown Latin musicians such as Julio Iglesias, Anuel AA, and Daddy Yankee, despite having no actual ties to those artists. To facilitate claiming those rights, the two men, operating under the MediaMuv brand, used AdRev, a rights management company owned by Downtown.
“Believe is a company built on copyright infringement on an industrial scale,” a UMG spokesperson said in a statement. “Their illegal practices are not limited to defrauding artists on major labels but also artists on independent labels, including artists on independent labels in the trade bodies Believe is a member of. It's no wonder that Believe has been vocal about the principles of streaming reform that so many major and independent companies have advocated for. Why? Because such reforms would undermine and expose the system of building scale and market presence by distributing music for which they have no rights and collecting illegal royalties to enrich themselves and their co-conspirators.”
The complaint specifically charges Believe with direct copyright infringement, contributory copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement, direct infringement of pre-1972 recordings, contributory infringement of pre-1972 recordings, and vicarious infringement of pre-1972 recordings.
Representatives for Believe and TuneCore did not immediately respond Bulletin boardrequests for comment.
It's been a busy year for TuneCore's parent company, Believe. On March 1, the French music giant, which is publicly traded on Paris' Euronext stock exchange, announced that its board had approved the privatization move and that there was an “interested party” that wanted to acquire it. First, however, the bidder requested due diligence information and financials before submitting a formal bid. Later that month, the name of the bidder was revealed when it was announced that Warner Music Group (WMG) had issued a formal notice to reveal its interest in acquiring Believe, which also owns publishing manager Sentric as well as labels such as Naïve , Nuclear Blast and Groove Attack.
In early April, however, WMG scrapped its plans to make a formal bid. The label did not elaborate on its decision, saying only that it was made “after careful consideration.” On April 19, Believe's board announced that it was backing a bid to take the company private at 15 euros ($15.98) per share from a consortium of funds managed by TCV chairman/CEO EQT X and Believe Denis Ladegaillerie. The three independent directors voted unanimously in favor of an opinion that the offer was in the best interests of the minority shareholders.
Fraud and copyright infringement are key issues in the music industry as the industry becomes increasingly democratized, offering anyone the chance to release music in hours — sometimes minutes — at the push of a button. In response, TuneCore, along with CD Baby, Distrokid and other competitors, formed “Music Fights Fraud,” a coalition designed to prevent bad actors from jumping from service to service to release songs they don't have the rights. Various initiatives, including Credits Due, have since been launched to try to fix metadata problems in the music business that can make artists vulnerable to rights theft and fraud, particularly on sites like YouTube.
However, despite these efforts, TuneCore and other DIY distributors have been accused of allowing bad actors to use their sites to upload infringing or fraudulent content. In August 2020, Round Hill Music's publishing arm sued TuneCore for “intentional and unauthorized use” of 219 of their recordings. And in 2022, Bulletin board reported that some music executives believe Create Music Group games the system on YouTube to claim royalties, with a label source claiming the company did it “flawlessly”.
Just last month, TikTok also sounded the alarm about fraudulent content when it pulled out of licensing negotiations with Merlin, a coalition of independent labels and distributors, to crack down on users uploading work they don't have the rights to on the platform. TikTok said it would pursue individual licensing deals with labels and distributors it deemed safe.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/umg-lawsuit-tunecore-infringed-music-rihanna-ariana-grande/
