Swedish based music, podcast and video streaming service, Spotify which launched in 2008 recently announced it has agreed to set up a $43.45 million fund to settle a pair of US copyright lawsuits against the company from two indie songwritng artists (Melissa Ferrick and David Lowery). Spotify claims to be able to offer instant access to 30 million songs via its streaming service. In 2015 Spotify had a reported estimated value of $8 billion and in 2017 was revealed to have over 50 million paying subscribers.
Melissa Ferrick and David Lowery had pursued class-action cases against Spotify accusing the company of putting their music online without securing permission to reproduce copyrighted material from the tracks’ composers.
Spotify’s proposed settlement of creating a $43.45 million fund to compensate songwriters for the lack of licensing still needs to be approved by a federal judge in New York.
Source: http://buff.ly/2sgtWKM
