Eminem's publishing company Eight Mile Style sues Meta over 'rampant' unauthorized use of rapper's music
Eminem has sued Meta over claims that the social media giant has distributed the rapper's music without the proper license to do so.
Eight Mile Style, the company that own's Eminem's most popular songs, has filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Michigan accusing the Mark Zuckerberg company of storing, reproducing and distributing the Detroit rapper's music without proper licensing.
The lawsuit is seeking at least $109 million as well as a court order to halt several forms of alleged copyright infringement, the Los Angeles Times reported.
According to the complaint, Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, created and stored copies of the music on its servers for their 'billions of users'.
The lawsuit claimed that the company's music library holds 243 songs controlled by Eight Mile Style for users to utilize.
'On information and belief, despite their not being licensed, the recordings of the Eight Mile Compositions have been reproduced and synchronized with visual content on Meta's platforms across millions of videos, which have been viewed billions of times,' the complaint said.
The lawsuit stated that its main complaint regarded the reproduction and storage of the music in its own music library and encouraging users to utilize the music without licensing.
It is alleged that the company knowingly reproduced and distributed the music after a failed negotiation with Eight Mile Style for licensing as part of its 2020 license agreement with Audiam, a digital music royalty collection firm.
'Nonetheless, Meta has reaped the financial benefits of having the Eight Mile Compositions available to its users as part of their online services,' the complaint stated.
It furthers that Meta executives 'actively encouraged rampant infringement' in order to attract more advertising profits, with 'advertising accounting for 97.8 percent of Meta's total revenue as of 2023.'
While the company began removing some of Eminem's music after the lack of license was brought to their attention, the lawsuit further claimed that karaoke and instrumental versions, as well as some original versions, of the rapper's songs remain on the platform.
'Meta's years-long and ongoing infringement of the Eight Mile Compositions is another case of a trillion [with a T] dollar company exploiting the creative efforts of musical artists for the obscene monetary benefit of its executives and shareholders without a license and without regard to the rights of the owners of the intellectual property,' the complaint stated.
Meta, however, said in a statement to the LA Times that it has licenses with thousands of partners globally and 'extensive' global licensing programs for music on its social media platforms.
'Meta had been negotiating in good faith with Eight Mile Style, but rather than continue those discussions, Eight Mile Style chose to sue,' the statement said.
The company also previously sued Facebook in 2013 and alleged that the platform used the rapper's song 'Under the Influence' for an advertisement without consent, the LA Times reported.
Eight Mile Style is asking for $150,000 per song, per platform, according to the complaint.
The company has requested a jury trial.
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