Kobalt has rejected what it calls “baseless allegations” made against the company by Spotify in a new legal filing, which has arisen following Spotify’s own dispute with Eight Mile Style, an independent publisher of Eminem songs.
Last August, Eight Mile Style – with whom Eminem is not actively affiliated – sued Spotify in the US. The pubco alleged that Spotify lacked licenses for nearly 250 Eminem songs it represents, including hits like Lose Yourself.
The statutory damages sought by Eight Mile Style works out to $150,000 for each of the 243 songs, or $36.45 million in total.
Eight Mile’s lawsuit claimed that “Spotify has not accounted to Eight Mile or paid Eight Mile for these streams but instead remitted random payments of some sort, which only purport to account for a fraction of those streams.”
It also accused Spotify of failing to comply with sections of the Music Modernization Act.
Now, Kobalt has been dragged into the dispute, via a complaint filed by Spotify on Friday (May 29) and first reported by Billboard.
In a legal filing seen by MBW, Spotify claims that “although the underlying infringement claim by Eight Mile lacks merit, it is Kobalt that bears ultimate responsibility should Eight Mile prevail”.
Kobalt is responsible, claims Spotify, because it granted licenses to the streaming platform for songs “allegedly owned by Eight Mile” for a number of years.
Spotify further alleges that “Kobalt had the express or apparent authority of Eight Mile to do so on Eight Mile’s behalf, and certainly (at the very least) led Spotify to believe that it had such authority”.
Spotify claims that songs published by Eight Mile were covered by a direct Mechanical License Agreement it had entered into with Kobalt, and states that it has “reluctantly, found it necessary to implead Kobalt into this Action”.
While Eight Mile claimed in its original lawsuit that “Spotify has not accounted to Eight Mile or paid Eight Mile for these streams,” Spotify’s claim filed on Friday suggests that the publisher “received substantial royalty payments from Spotify” based on vast volumes of streaming on the service.
Adds Spotify’s filing: “Eight Mile [suggests] that it was somehow ‘duped’ by Spotify into thinking the Compositions were properly licensed to explain away why it knowingly accepted and deposited royalty payments while remaining silent for years.
“Eight Mile’s story defies logic. But its lawsuit fails from the start for an even simpler reason: Spotify was, in fact, licensed by Eight Mile’s agent, Kobalt, to reproduce and distribute the Compositions.”
“Kobalt has not breached its agreement with Spotify, and will vigorously defend against these baseless allegations.”
Kobalt
In a statement issued to MBW, Kobalt rejected Spotify’s claim, suggesting the streaming platform had attempted to drag its company into the lawsuit via “baseless allegations.”
A Kobalt spokesperson told MBW: “On initial review of the Third Party Complaint, Spotify mischaracterizes the substance both of the services Kobalt provides to Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated in the United States, as well as the content of Spotify’s direct US licensing agreement with Kobalt.
“Kobalt has not breached its agreement with Spotify, and will vigorously defend against these baseless allegations.”
Eminem reportedly knew nothing about the initial Eight Mile Style lawsuit until the news broke in August. Eminem’s publicist Dennis Dennehy said at the time that the artist was “just as surprised as anyone else by this news”.Music Business Worldwide
