Lowery demands transparency in Spotify case…
Back in December last year Spotify faced a lawsuit brought forward by musician David Lowery, frontman of bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker. Lowery, who carries a long history of advocating for fair pay for artists, claimed that Spotify is distributing copyrighted content while skipping key royalties.
As a result, Lowery demanded around $150 million in damages for the illegal distribution of his songs.
Since, the case has been ongoing. On Monday (April 18th) Lowery told U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell that Spotify is ”using misleading information to push putative class members into a lowball royalty settlement with the National Music Publishers Association”.
Lowery has requested that the Judge allows him to review all communications Spotify USA Inc. issues to putative class members related to its $30 million settlement with the NMPA.
Lowery not only claims that Spotify is using the NMPA settlement to try and cut putative class members out of his lawsuit, but he also claims that the NMPA has distributed “slanted” press releases which discredits his lawsuit to get putative class members into the NMPA settlement.
Lowery has pleaded with the Judge to allow him to send corrective notices to putative class members and also asks the Judge to prohibit Spotify and any related parties from issuing any misleading communications moving forward.
Lowery also claims that the streaming platform is infringing his and other musicians’ mechanical rights by failing to acquire the mechanical licenses for particular songs it streams on the service.
Spotify seeks termination of the lawsuit on the basis that the case doesn’t exist in the state of California.
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