Apple, Spotify and others accused of music industry 'conspiracy'
A new antitrust lawsuit filed Monday claims that Apple and a slew of other companies in the music streaming industry have built out an illegal buyer's "conspiracy" to block out licensing competition.
A new lawsuit claims that Apple and a slew of other companies are part of a music industry "conspiracy" to block out competition from the buy-side.
Back in December 2019, for-profit performing rights organization Pro Music Rights (PMR) levied a lawsuit against Apple for allegedly streaming copyrighted music without obtaining proper licenses. Now, PMR is suing what is essentially the entire streaming music industry, and other broadcasting entities, for alleged anticompetitive practices.
The new complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, accuses Apple, Amazon, Google, Spotify, SoundCloud and other streaming companies of having "entered into an illegal agreement, combination and/or conspiracy to shut PMR out of the market and to fix prices at infracompetitve levels." PMR claims that the streaming companies are in violation of the Sherman Act, the Connecticut Antitrust Act and the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act by working together to "choke all vestiges of legitimate competition from the buy-side of the market."
Founded and staffed solely by 20-year-old Jake P. Noch, PMR has the rights to license about two million works from popular artists such as A$AP Rocky, Wiz Khalifa, Pharrell, Young Jeezy, Lil Yachty, Soulja Boy, Nipsey Hussle, 2 Chainz, Migos, Fall Out Boy and others.
Apple appears to be under fire specifically for streaming music works in PMR's repertory to users in Connecticut. The lawsuit claims that Apple has purchased licenses from organizations such as Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) but not PMR.
The suit also claims that Apple has "entered into an illegal agreement" with the other named companies to "boycott PMR all while publicly performing music works" in its repertory, adding that the defendants refuse to recognize any newcomers in the performing rights organization sphere. Further, Noch argues streaming and other media companies entered into horizontal price-fixing arrangements to control copyright license fees, resulting in reduced competition.
In June 2018, Noch reportedly sent a letter informing Apple that it must acquire a license to publicly perform songs in its catalog.
While Noch received a letter from the Statutory Licensing Division of Music Reports informing him that Apple had filed a notice of intent to get a compulsory license, the company didn't seek a public performance license. Additional attempts to strike an agreement with Apple fell through.
The lawsuit suggests that similar negotiations with other streaming platforms have followed a similar track. It accuses the defendants, which also includes broadcasters and radio companies like iHeartRadio and the Radio Music License Committee, of "uniformly" refusing to deal with PMR.
The suit also claims that the "conspiracy" results in restricted songwriter, publisher and consumer choice, as well as injury to competition and to PMR itself. It seeks an injunction, as well as punitive damages.
A new lawsuit claims that Apple and a slew of other companies are part of a music industry "conspiracy" to block out competition from the buy-side.
Back in December 2019, for-profit performing rights organization Pro Music Rights (PMR) levied a lawsuit against Apple for allegedly streaming copyrighted music without obtaining proper licenses. Now, PMR is suing what is essentially the entire streaming music industry, and other broadcasting entities, for alleged anticompetitive practices.
The new complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, accuses Apple, Amazon, Google, Spotify, SoundCloud and other streaming companies of having "entered into an illegal agreement, combination and/or conspiracy to shut PMR out of the market and to fix prices at infracompetitve levels." PMR claims that the streaming companies are in violation of the Sherman Act, the Connecticut Antitrust Act and the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act by working together to "choke all vestiges of legitimate competition from the buy-side of the market."
Founded and staffed solely by 20-year-old Jake P. Noch, PMR has the rights to license about two million works from popular artists such as A$AP Rocky, Wiz Khalifa, Pharrell, Young Jeezy, Lil Yachty, Soulja Boy, Nipsey Hussle, 2 Chainz, Migos, Fall Out Boy and others.
Apple appears to be under fire specifically for streaming music works in PMR's repertory to users in Connecticut. The lawsuit claims that Apple has purchased licenses from organizations such as Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) but not PMR.
The suit also claims that Apple has "entered into an illegal agreement" with the other named companies to "boycott PMR all while publicly performing music works" in its repertory, adding that the defendants refuse to recognize any newcomers in the performing rights organization sphere. Further, Noch argues streaming and other media companies entered into horizontal price-fixing arrangements to control copyright license fees, resulting in reduced competition.
In June 2018, Noch reportedly sent a letter informing Apple that it must acquire a license to publicly perform songs in its catalog.
While Noch received a letter from the Statutory Licensing Division of Music Reports informing him that Apple had filed a notice of intent to get a compulsory license, the company didn't seek a public performance license. Additional attempts to strike an agreement with Apple fell through.
The lawsuit suggests that similar negotiations with other streaming platforms have followed a similar track. It accuses the defendants, which also includes broadcasters and radio companies like iHeartRadio and the Radio Music License Committee, of "uniformly" refusing to deal with PMR.
The suit also claims that the "conspiracy" results in restricted songwriter, publisher and consumer choice, as well as injury to competition and to PMR itself. It seeks an injunction, as well as punitive damages.
Pro Music Rights v. Apple by Mikey Campbell on Scribd
Comments
That about sums it up, doesn't it.
According to Mr. Noch's Linked-IN page he is:
CEO and Chairman of the Board of PRM, and the only employee
CEO of China Food and Beverage based in Shenzhen, China - apparently the only employee there as well
CEO and co-founder of Noch Financial Group - can't find any information about that
CEO and Owner of Brazy Records
So maybe he's a young entrepreneur who put together a little coalition of musicians to represent. Maybe he's a Bernie Madoff. Time will tell.
He started a label.
New York, NY, June 16, 2016 --(PR.com)-- Launched by producer Jake P. Noch, aka Sosa, on January 20, 2016 Sosa Entertainment boasts an impressive roster of 25 artists. Sosa Entertainment hopes to be a label that doesn’t take advantage of artists in contracts with unfair deals, and to help each of their artists earn a six-figure income.
“We take artists and make them millionaires,” Sosa said.
To date, Sosa Entertainment has brought in over seven figures – in just five months time. Artists signed to the label can release music on their own time, allowing each artist to keep living the gangster lifestyle.
But then I realized who the complainant is and the situation become less interesting.
Only this Instagram account with 17 followers: https://www.instagram.com/sosaentertainment/
Most of the music in the PMR catalog that seems to have actually been recorded is Jake Noch's own music, made on his phone from commonly available Garageband loops.
https://musicrightswatch.wordpress.com/2019/04/10/global-music-rights-or-pro-music-rights-which-one-is-really-licensing-your-favorite-music/
However most of the song titles in the catalog are just auto-generated by auto-generated artist names.
https://musicrightswatch.wordpress.com/2019/11/30/a-list-of-artists-in-the-pro-music-rights-catalog/
https://musicrightswatch.wordpress.com/2019/08/04/mystery-artists-in-the-pro-music-rights-catalog/