In a legal ground-shaking announcement, The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) has literally smothered the financial situation of the bird-logo app, Twitter. Already the rumors had it that Twitter is going through a loss of financial investors and advertising properiters, as a lady icon of media industry, Linda Yaccarino has taken over as CEO of the company, to tackle the monetary issues of the app.
Now, striking a killing blow, NMPA has sued Twitter for a whopping worth of $250 million due to copyright infringement. The lawsuit alleges that Twitter has allowed its users to freely share copyrighted music without obtaining proper licenses (approximately 1700 works), thus undermining the rights of music creators. The outcome of this case could have far-reaching implications for the relationship between social media platforms and intellectual property rights.
Filed in federal court in Tennessee, claims the company
fuels its business with countless infringing copies of musical compositions, violating Publishers’ and others’ exclusive rights under copyright law.
The problem existed before Musk’s acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion in the previous year. According to The New York Times, undisclosed employees stated that Twitter had opted not to pursue a music licensing agreement due to the substantial associated costs, potentially exceeding $100 million annually. The Times also mentioned in March that negotiations between three major music labels and Twitter were halted following Musk’s takeover in the autumn.
The alleged copyright infringement on Twitter poses a substantial threat to the music industry. This undermines the value of music and erodes the ability of artists, songwriters, and music publishers to be fairly compensated for their work. As social media platforms continue to evolve and expand, they become increasingly influential in shaping how copyrighted content is disseminated and consumed.
According to The Verge, Twitter has not responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit, and since it was filed, Musk has been tweeting about Tucker Carlson and crime in San Francisco, while new CEO Linda Yaccarino has not tweeted since posting the content of her first letter to the company’s employees.
