Eminem's Publishing Company Files Copyright Lawsuit Against Meta
'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 claims. '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.'
More from Rolling Stone
Eminem, Post Malone Make Cameos in Adam Sandler's 'Happy Gilmore 2' Trailer
Watch Eminem Join Jelly Roll for 'Lose Yourself' at Detroit Show
Eminem Stalker Convicted After Second Home Invasion
Eight Mile Style is the owner of 243 musical compositions, including 'Lose Yourself,' 'The Real Slim Shady,' 'Forgot About Dre,' and other notable releases from Eminem. The suit acknowledges that Meta 'has removed several of the Eight Mile Compositions from its Music Libraries in the preceding months,' including 'Lose Yourself,' but states that a karaoke version, a piano instrumental, and one regular cover version by a different artist are still available. 'This in addition to other prominent Eminem works which remain available on Meta's services,' the company's lawyers claim, citing 'Till I Collapse.'
The suit alleges that Meta's 'rampant infringement' extends beyond allowing users to upload copyrighted audio to its platforms. 'This case involves Meta's knowing infringement of the Eight Mile Compositions by first reproducing and storing them in Meta's online Music Libraries, and then distributing them for users to select and incorporate into their own photos and videos made available for public streaming on the users' WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram accounts,' the complaint claims.
The publishing company is seeking monetary damages 'including actual damages, damages for the diminished value of the copyrights by Defendants' theft of them, lost profits, and Defendants' profits attributable to the infringement.' Alternatively, the company is seeking 'maximum statutory damages for willful copyright infringement for each of Eight Mile Style's works,' which would amount to '$150,000 per work, times 243 works, times 3 platforms,' or $109,350,000. Eight Mile Style has also requested a permanent injunction to halt ongoing infringement.
A rep for Meta did not immediately return Rolling Stone's request for comment.
The legal filing comes less than a year after Eight Mile Style lost its copyright infringement lawsuit against Spotify after five years due to a legal loophole. In September, a Tennessee judge ruled that while Spotify did not have the proper streaming license, as the publisher claimed, any imposed penalties would have fallen on Kobalt Music Group, a royalty collection agency. In the suit, Eight Mile Style sought nearly $40 million, claiming to not have received payment for billions of Spotify streams.
Best of Rolling Stone
The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs
All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Man Watches Eminem Film at Movies, Has Instant Regret Over New Hairstyle
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A movie trip to see Eminem's latest documentary turned into an unexpected viral moment for one man on TikTok. The clip posted on August 8 has racked up over 206,000 views. In it, Rekai, 27 (@rekaisaidso), stares into the camera with wide eyes after sitting down in the theater to watch Stans. His hair was short and dyed peroxide blonde—the rapper's signature look during the late 90s and early 2000s. "I shouldn't have dyed my hair blond beforehand," the video's caption read. Stans, coproduced by Eminem, explores the lives of some of his most-devoted fans and takes its name from the rapper's 2000 hit "Stan," about an obsessive admirer. The film screened globally in select theaters on August 7 for one weekend only. Newsweek spoke to Rekai, a visual-effects artist from London, in the U.K., who said: "I listen to Eminem's music casually, but I'm not a Stan by any means." What Is a Stan? Stock image: Eminem wins Music Video of the Year at The Source Hip Hop Music Awards 2000 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles. Stock image: Eminem wins Music Video of the Year at The Source Hip Hop Music Awards 2000 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles. Kevin Winter / Staff/Hulton Archive A 2024 YouGov survey found Eminem to be the most popular among his peers, with a 54 percent positive rating—placing him ahead of Pharrell Williams (47 percent) and Ludacris (46 percent). Eminem is particularly favored by Gen Z adults and millennials, with 68 percent from each group viewing him positively. Two in five fans come from lower- (41 percent) or middle-income households (39 percent), and 40 percent are married without children. However, there is a difference between enjoying an artist's music and embracing every aspect of their persona—a distinction captured in his 2000 song "Stan." In the dictionary, "Stan" describes someone who admires a celebrity to an unusual degree. Forbes traced the term back to Eminem's collaboration with Dido, a track that cemented the image of the devoted superfan in pop culture. Eminem (in white top) performs on stage with look-alikes during the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. Eminem (in white top) performs on stage with look-alikes during the MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on September 11, 2024. TIMOTHY A. CLARY / Contributor/AFP Rekai said that he has had blonde hair on and off for around 10 years, but, this time, the timing couldn't have been worse. In the late 90s and early 2000s, the Real Slim Shady's peroxide hair, white T-shirt, and baggy jeans became an iconic look—so much so that fans often copied it at his concerts. Eminem has even filled his sets with look-alikes, from the MTV VMAs in the 2000s to the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards. TikTok Reacts The clip has already racked up more than 26,000 likes and nearly 100 comments, many filled with sarcasm and jokes. "Did anyone think you was him?" asked one user, and Rekai joked: "Yeah so many people came and asked me for autographs." "Nothing can beat 8 mile," noted another user, referring to Eminem's musical drama released in 2002.
Entrepreneur
2 hours ago
- Entrepreneur
Abha Maheshwari Resigns as CEO of ALLEN Digital After Two Years
A former Meta executive, Maheshwari was appointed in May 2023 as the first CEO of ALLEN Digital, shortly after the parent company received a USD 600 million investment from Bodhi Tree Systems. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Abha Maheshwari has stepped down as chief executive officer of ALLEN Digital, marking the end of a two-year tenure in which she led the digital arm of the test-preparation company through a period of technological expansion and team growth. "…I am moving on from Allen, closing an incredible chapter filled with learning, growth, and impact," Maheshwari wrote in a LinkedIn post. She added that she would be "taking a short break before stepping into my next chapter." A former Meta executive, Maheshwari was appointed in May 2023 as the first CEO of ALLEN Digital, shortly after the parent company received a USD 600 million investment from Bodhi Tree Systems. The digital division had been launched in 2022, at a time when interest in artificial intelligence was gaining momentum. Maheshwari spent a decade at Facebook, now Meta, where she worked on products and partnerships and was instrumental in scaling Instagram Shopping. She brought this background in product development to ALLEN Digital, which began as a small team of about 15 to 20 members working out of a co-working space. "When I first joined, we were a small team of 15 to 20 working out of a WeWork, scrappy, ambitious, and committed to building something meaningful. Two years later, I leave behind a buzzing office filled with passionate people, bold ideas, and the same deep sense of purpose, now backed by a much larger and stronger team," she said. The leadership team during her tenure included chief product officer Ankit Khurana, who spent a decade at Flipkart, chief technology officer Saurabh Tandon, also from Flipkart, and former chief marketing officer Apoorv Sharma, who joined from Apple and departed in May 2025. Other team members came from companies such as WhatsApp, Google, Amazon, and Meta. "…beyond the products, growth, and milestones, what I am most proud of is the team we built and the impact we created together. It has been a privilege to lead and learn alongside such a committed, mission-driven group," Maheshwari remarked. Under her leadership, ALLEN Digital integrated artificial intelligence and machine learning into its learning platforms. Initiatives included a revamped website, a streamlined mobile app, and other behind-the-scenes technology upgrades. The company also launched a biology bot to enable conversational learning, integrated with AI-driven question-answering from Doubtnut, which ALLEN acquired for 10 million dollars in December. Although the company reported revenue of INR 3,245 crore in FY24, a 42 percent rise from the previous year, profit fell by 44 percent to INR 136 crore.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Taylor Swift Announced as Special Guest on Travis Kelce's ‘New Heights' Podcast After Teasers
Taylor Swift isn't letting August slip away without a little surprise. The musician will appear on the New Heights podcast hosted by her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and his brother Jason Kelce on Wednesday, Aug. 13. The brothers shared the announcement on Instagram Monday evening, with a clip of the pop superstar admiring Travis' sweater and remarking, 'It's such a nice color on you.' The Chiefs player quips, 'It's the color of your eyes, sweetie. It's why we match so well.' The brief video ends with Swift exclaiming, 'We're about to do a f-king podcast!' More from Rolling Stone 13 Taylor Swift Books to Buy Before You Can Get Your Hands on 'The Life of a Showgirl' Swifties Uncover Years' Worth of Easter Eggs After 'The Life of a Showgirl' Reveal Travis Kelce Says Dating Taylor Swift Still Feels Normal: 'We're Just Two People That Are in Love' Swifties kicked into investigation mode on Monday morning when New Heights first began teasing the special guest appearance. When the Kelce brothers shared the thumbnail promoting their next podcast episode, in which Jason is wearing Swift merch, fans noticed that the orange background of the image was distinct. Usually, their preview images place the blacked-out silhouette of their guest against a yellow backdrop. This orange, coincidentally, called back to the same color highlighted in a new 12-slide post from Taylor Nation, an official branch of Swift's marketing team. 'Thinking about when she said 'See you next era… ,'' Taylor Nation captioned the carousel of images from the Eras Tour. Swifties also noticed that the New Heights thumbnail matched the silhouette of Swift from her Variety 'Directors on Directors' appearance, which notably premiered on Dec. 12, 2022, and supported her work on the Grammy Award-winning All Too Well: The Short Film (released on Nov. 12, 2021). With this announcement arriving on Aug. 12, 2025, who can fault Swifties for believing it could have even the slightest thing to do with the next full-length LP — which will be, as you have probably inferred, album number 12 — from Swift? They haven't had much to dissect since the Eras Tour concluded, apart from the handwritten letter the musician shared earlier this year when she revealed that she had become the proud owner of her entire catalog of music. She extended the word 'this' in the first paragraph of the note. Want to guess how many times the letter 'i' was written? (Hint: More than 11, less than 13.) Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked Solve the daily Crossword
