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Snoop Dogg might not be impressed with DSPs payout. But that hasn’t stopped Eminem, or rather his publishing company, from going after what he’s owed.
Back in 2019’s the “Somebody Save Me” rapper’s co-publisher, Eight Mile Style, launched a lawsuit against streaming giant. Now according to Music Business Worldwide, the five-year-long $40 million case is partially over in favor of the stream.
In the decision, Judge Aleta A. Trauger shut down Eight Mile Style’s claim that Spotify “deceptively” asserted that it had the “proper licenses” for several Eminem tracks.
“While Spotify’s handling of composer copyrights appears to have been seriously flawed, any right to recover damages based on those flaws belongs to those innocent rights holders who were genuinely harmed,” she said. “Not ones who, like Eight Mile Style, had every opportunity to set things right and simply chose not to do so for no apparent reason, other than that being the victim of infringement pays better than being an ordinary licensor.”
Instead, Trauger ruled that Kobalt Music Publishing, another royalty collection agency, was seemingly at fault, a declaration Spotify’s legal team previously made.”
However, in a statement provided to the outlet (viewable here), Kobalt Music Publishing denied the accusation. “Spotify mischaracterizes the substance both of the services Kobalt provides to Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated in the United States, as well as the content of Spotify’s direct US licensing agreement with Kobalt,” said the rep.
Eminem has not issued a public response to the court’s decision.
