Music streaming giant Spotify recently filed for a $20bn IPO continuing its plans to pursue a direct listing in the first half of the year, however reports have revealed due to its current $2bn publishing lawsuit the company’s IPO’s dreams could be shattered.
Wixen Music Publishing has filed a lawsuit against the music streaming company saying 10,784 of its songs were streamed/downloaded billions of times without being paid compensation.
Wixen argues in the lawsuit: ““Prior to launching in the United States, Spotify attempted to license sound recordings by working with record labels but, in a race to be first to market, made insufficient efforts to collect the required musical composition information and, in turn, failed in many cases to license the compositions embodied within each recording or comply with the requirements of Section 115 of the Copyright Act.”
Wixen Music Publishing holds the rights to various artists such as The Beach Boys, Missy Elliot, Tom Petty, Neil Young and Janis Joplin.
