A gaggle of 17 music publishers are suing Twitter in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee, accusing the corporate of enabling hundreds of copyright infringements by allowing users to post music with out a license.
Twitter boosts user engagement with “countless copies of infringing music.” a lawsuit he said.
Members of the National Music Publishers’ Association, including Sony Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management and Universal Music Publishing Group, are in search of greater than $250 million in damages for allegedly infringing nearly 1,700 copyrights.
The lawsuit said the long-running infringement has worsened since Elon Musk bought Twitter in October, and other major platforms reminiscent of TikTok, Facebook and YouTube license music from publishers accordingly.
![Beyoncé](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000010909296.jpg?w=1024)
![Taylor Swift](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/taylor-swift-4.jpg?1686767742&w=1024&1686767742)
Twitter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Artists represented by the suit include Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Ed Sheeran, The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, Miranda Lambert and Rihanna.
NMPA president David Israelite said in an announcement that Twitter “is the one major social media platform to completely refuse to license the hundreds of thousands of songs on its service.”
![Elon Musk and Twitter logos](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/NYPICHPDPICT000012377526.jpg?w=1024)
Twitter “routinely ignores” repeated violations by users who tweet out unlicensed music, the lawsuit said. The publishers said Twitter encourages users to infringe, which increases engagement and ad revenue while giving it an “unfair advantage” over platforms that pay for music licenses.
“Twitter’s internal affairs regarding matters related to this matter are in disarray,” the publishers said, noting deep cuts to the corporate’s legal and trust and security teams since Musk took control.