Universal Music Group, ABKCO Music & Records and Concord Music Group have filed a complaint for copyright infringement against Believe and its subsidiary Tunecore.
The claim was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The civil action is seeking damages of $500 milllion.
In the preliminary statement, the allegation is stated: “Believe is a global commercial distributor of sound recordings. It has been able to achieve dramatic growth and profitability in recent years by operating as a hub for the distribution of infringing copies of the world’s most popular copyrighted recordings. This action has been filed to address and stop Believe’s massive ongoing infringements and its brazen attempt to build its business by converting the value of those priceless recordings.”
The legal claim alleges that Believe’s client list is “overrun with fraudulent ‘artists’ and pirate record labels who rely on Believe and its distribution network to seed infringing copies of popular sound recordings throughout the digital music ecosystem.”
The plaintiffs claim that the infringing tracks are barely concealed variants on the names of famous recording artists, with examples including “Kendrik Laamar”, “Arrianna Gramde” and “Llady Gaga”. It's alleged that the tracks in question are often remixed or sped-up, and distributed to major platforms including TikTok, Spotify, YouTube and more.
A spokesperson for Universal Music Group said: “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.
“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 co-conspirators.”
A Believe spokesperson said: “Believe and TuneCore do not comment on pending litigation. As companies that work with artists and labels around the world, we take the respect of copyright very seriously. We strongly refute these claims, and the statements made by Universal Music Group and will fight them. We have developed robust tools and processes to tackle this industrywide challenge, working collaboratively with partners and peers and will continue to do so. We have been at the forefront of the digital music ecosystem for nearly 20 years, supporting the development of independent artists and labels, and have been awarded Tier 1 status and included in the Preferred Partner Program across all music stores.”??
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