An independent musician has filed a lawsuit against Apple and Apple Music over the unlicensed use of tracks and unpaid royalties. Like similar suits brought against Spotify and other streamers, the suit is seeking class action status to include hundreds if not thousands of other independent artists.
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A lawsuit filed by independent musician Bryan Eich claims that Apple and Apple Music failed to obtain the required compulsory mechanical publishing licenses for his work before making them available to stream.
Even after being informed twice about the missing NOI’s, Apple allegedly continued to stream his catalog and failed to respond to the claims. Apple Music also allegedly failed to provide Eich with a “Monthly Statement of Account” and an “Annual Statement of Account.”
Attorney Richard Garbarini, has asked the court to grant the suit class action status to the suit on behalf of the many songwriters who own the publishing rights to recordings that they submitted to Apple through aggregators like CD Baby, who Eich used to to distribute two albums in 2014. CD Baby has since enacted a policy that only verified songs would be uploaded to the music streamers.
Spotify has been hit by several similar lawsuits which have been granted class action status, but this is believed to be the first filed against Apple.