[UPDATED] In a major victory for indie musicians, the combined class action lawsuits against Spotify brought by Cracker frontman and artist advocate David Lowery and singer/songwriter Melissa Ferrick have been settled with the music streamer establishing a $43.4 million fund to compensate songwriters and publishers whose work had been used by the service without proper licensing.
Ferrick and Lowery had sued Spotify for $200 million and $150 million respectively. The two class action suits had been combined last year.
The $43.4 million fund will be used for compensation of past infringements by Spotify, and outlines a process by which Spotify and those involved in the class action suit “will work collaboratively to improve the gathering and collecting of information about composition owners to help ensure those owners are paid their royalties in the future.”
“It was Spotify’s obligation to get licensees prior to using my music,” Ferrick told Hypebot in an interview last year. “If my music is licensed properly. I have no issue with streaming services but I believe they should be following the law… Protecting your music is as important as making it. Every musician should know and understand their rights.”