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# 2nd Class Action Suit Filed Against Spotify Seeks $200M “To vindicate rights” Of Songwriters, Publishers
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/second-class-action-suit-filed-against-spotify-seeks-200m-to-vindicate-rights-of-songwriters-publish/
- Published: 2016-01-10T23:07:00.000Z
- Updated: 2016-01-10T23:07:00.000Z
- Description: Just after Christmas, musician and music industry critic David Lowery filed a lawsuit against Spotify seeking class action status and $150 million in damages for using songs without obtaining the proper. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2016/01/second-class-action-suit-filed-against
- Author: Bruce Houghton
- Tags: Music Business, Music Tech, Streaming, legal, Spotify, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:22

[![Spotify$](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b8d18eda43970c-150wi "Spotify$")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b8d18eda43970c-popup?ref=hypebot.com)Just after Christmas, musician and music industry critic **David Lowery filed a lawsuit** against **Spotify** seeking class action status and **$150 million** in damages for using songs without obtaining the proper licences. Friday, independent singer and songwriter **Melissa Ferrick** enlisted some **heavy legal firepower** to file a **$200 million lawsuit** vs. Spotify.

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[![Melissa Ferrick](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b7c804fa54970b-150wi "Melissa Ferrick")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b7c804fa54970b-popup?ref=hypebot.com)Independent singer, songwriter and music publisher [Melissa Ferrick](http://www.melissaferrick.com/?ref=hypebot.com) has filed the second major lawsuit in as many weeks against Spotify. This suit, which is seeking class action status to include other creators and publishers, is demanding $200 million in damages for "systemic and willful copyright infringement."Ferrick is a respected singer and songwriter who controls her own publishing. In the filings, she alleges that her songs have been streamed “approximately one million times” on Spotify without the appropriate mechanical licenses. Filed in the Los Angles federal District Court on Friday by Gradstein & Marzanno, the same law firm behind ongoing litigation on behalf of the Turtles vs. Sirius XM and Pandora over pre-1972 recording royalties. The new lawsuit alleges that, over a multi-year period, Spotify reproduced and distributed many musical compositions without the proper licenses. "This case is brought to **vindicate the rights of the owners of the** **copyrights** in the musical compositions embodied in phonorecords that Spotify has **reproduced and distributed – without a license** – as part of its extraordinarily popular interactive online subscription music streaming service…**Spotify chose expediency over licenses**. Thus, while **Spotify has** **profited handsomely** from the music that its sells to its subscribers, the owners of that music (in particular, **songwriters and their music publishers**) **have not been able** **to share in that success** because Spotify is using their music for free."Spotify recently [announced](https://www.hypebot.com/spotify-admits-their-music-publishing-payment-system-is-broken-commits-to-major-overhaul/) that it “will invest in significant resources to build a comprehensive publishing administration system to solve the problem. But the new lawsuit hopes to use that effort against the music streamer. "That is an investment and process that Spotify should have undertaken before it decided to reproduce and distribute phonorecords embodying unlicensed musical compositions to the Service’s millions of users," states the filing, "not over four years after Spotify launched the Service in the United States.**The Other Spotify Lawsuit**In another[ lawsuit filed against Spotify](https://www.hypebot.com/david-lowery-file-150m-class-action-suit-against-spotify-over-unpaid-royalties-other-lawsuits-may-fo/) just before the end of 2015, Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven front man and musician advocate David Lowery made similar allegations. Lowery is also seeking class action status and $150 million in damages, alleging that Spotify "knowingly, willingly, and unlawfully reproduces and distributes copyrighted" compositions without obtaining the proper licences.

**More**

- **[Spotify Admits Their Music Publishing Payment System Is Broken, Commits To Major Overhaul](https://www.hypebot.com/spotify-admits-their-music-publishing-payment-system-is-broken-commits-to-major-overhaul/)**
- **[David Lowery Files $150M Class Action Suit Against Spotify Over Unpaid Royalties, Other Lawsuits May Follow](https://www.hypebot.com/david-lowery-file-150m-class-action-suit-against-spotify-over-unpaid-royalties-other-lawsuits-may-fo/)**

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