Universal Music Group (UMG), along with ABKCO Music & Records, and Concord Music Group, filed a major copyright infringement lawsuit against Believe and its subsidiary TuneCore on Monday (November 4), seeking damages of at least USD $500 million.
The complaint, which you can read in full here, was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and focuses in part on the dissemination of so-called ‘manipulated’ audio.
It alleges that Believe has built its business through “industrial-scale copyright infringement” of “the world’s most popular copyrighted recordings.”
Universal Music Group, ABKCO and Concord claim that Believe has achieved significant growth by acting as a hub for distributing unauthorized copies of copyrighted recordings to major platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and Instagram.
UMG et al allege: “Often, Believe distributes overtly infringing versions of original tracks by famous artists with notations that they are ‘sped up’ or ‘remixed’.”
A spokesperson for UMG said of the lawsuit: “Believe is a company built on industrial-scale copyright infringement. Their illegal practices are not limited to cheating artists on major labels but artists on independent labels as well—including artists on the independent labels within the trade bodies of which Believe is itself a member.”
The lawsuit highlights multiple examples of alleged infringement (see Exhibit A and Exhibit B here).
These examples include tracks uploaded by “artists” using slightly misspelled versions of famous names such as “Kendrik Laamar,” “Arriana Gramde,” “Jutin Biber,” and “Llady Gaga.”
Many of the unauthorized tracks are described as “sped up” or “remixed” versions of original recordings by artists including ABBA, Ariana Grande, Beastie Boys, Bon Jovi, Daddy Yankee, Diana Ross, Drake, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Nirvana, and the Rolling Stones.
“Believe is a company built on industrial-scale copyright infringement. Their illegal practices are not limited to cheating artists on major labels but artists on independent labels as well—including artists on the independent labels within the trade bodies of which Believe is itself a member.”
Universal Music Group
Additionally, UMG et al. note that Believe has distributed “millions” of tracks — more than the combined catalog of major labels and legitimate independent labels — to DSPs.
The lawsuit claims: “While Believe is fully aware that its business model is fueled by rampant piracy, it has eschewed basic measures to prevent copyright violations and turned a blind eye to the fact that its music catalog was rife with copyright infringing sound recordings.”
The case partly focuses on YouTube’s Content ID system.
UMG and its co-plaintiffs accused Believe of manipulating this system “to claim ownership of the copyrights in the recordings embodied in the tracks it distributes and uses those systems to monetize uses of those recordings”.
Even after losing such disputes on YouTube, alleges UMG, Believe continues to distribute the same infringing tracks on other platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
“It’s no wonder that Believe has been outspoken against the streaming reform principles for which so many major and independent labels have been advocating. Why? Because such reforms would undermine and expose their system of building scale and market presence by distributing music for which they have no rights and illegally collecting royalties to enrich themselves and their coconspirators,” the UMG spokesperson said.
The complaint cites unauthorized versions of hits like Aqua’s Barbie Girl; Taki Taki by DJ Snake ft. Selena Gomez, Ozuna and Cardi B; ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me; and Billie Eilish’s bad guy.
According to UMG, these tracks remained available on other platforms even after Believe acknowledged they had no rights to the content on YouTube.
“It’s no wonder that Believe has been outspoken against the streaming reform principles for which so many major and independent labels have been advocating. Why? Because such reforms would undermine and expose their system of building scale and market presence by distributing music for which they have no rights and illegally collecting royalties to enrich themselves and their coconspirators.”
Universal Music Group
“As the distributor of these tracks, Believe had specific knowledge of infringement or, at minimum, was actually aware of facts indicating a high likelihood of infringement, but continued to distribute and purport to license the same tracks to other services, continuing to violate Plaintiffs’ copyrights and to divert royalties that ought to have flowed to Plaintiffs,” the complaint reads.
The lawsuit emerges against the backdrop of concerns over unauthorized “modified” tracks, particularly on TikTok.
It follows UMG’s recent confrontation with ByteDance, involving 37,000 takedown requests affecting over 120 million TikTok videos earlier this year.
It also builds on a potential precedent from Sony Music’s case against an artist called Trefuego in April over his track, 90mh, which was based around a sped-up sample of the 1986 track Reflections by Japanese composer Hinata, which Sony represents.
At the time, Music Business Worldwide raised fundamental questions about distributor liability in the digital streaming age.
The Sony x Trefuego case notably targeted the individual artist rather than the distributor, DistroKid, although the distributor had to pay a $14,000 chunk of Trefuego’s $800,000 damages to Sony.
DistroKid’s ‘Distribution Agreement’ with artists reads: “You shall indemnify and hold harmless, and upon our request, defend DistroKid [from] all claims, suits, proceedings, disputes, controversies, losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses… resulting from… any claim that the Recordings, Materials, data or information provided or authorized by you… violates or infringes the rights of another party.”
Similarly, Believe and TuneCore’s ‘Terms and Conditions,’ effective since April 2021, also has an indemnification clause saying: “You agree to indemnify and hold harmless [Believe and TuneCore], subsidiaries, affiliates or any related companies… from any and all claims, losses, obligations, damages, liabilities, costs debt, and expenses… including claims that any of your User Content infringes or violates any third-party intellectual property rights.”
“[Believe and TuneCore] reserve the right, at your expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter for which you are required to indemnify us, and you agree to cooperate with our defense of these claims.”
This isn’t the first time that TuneCore/Believe has been sued over copyright infringement.
In 2020, it was hit with a lawsuit by New York-based publisher Round Hill Music over the alleged reproduction and distribution of “musical compositions owned or controlled by Round Hill… despite knowing that [these] compositions were never properly licensed.”
That case was later settled.Music Business Worldwide
