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Sony Music Entertainment<\/a> has sued Napster<\/a> alleging that the streaming service owes more than $9.2 million in unpaid royalties and licensing fees, while seeking damages of as much as $37.5 million for copyright infringement.<\/p>\n The complaint, which you can read in full here<\/a>, was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday (August 1) and focuses on Napster<\/b>\u2019s alleged continued use of copyrighted songs without authorization after contracts were terminated.<\/p>\n The lawsuit targets Napster\u2019s parent companies Rhapsody International<\/b> and digital media and e-commerce company Infinite Reality<\/b>, which acquired the streaming platform in March via a $207 million <\/b>deal.<\/p>\n Sony<\/a><\/b> Music<\/b> claims Napster has been delinquent on payments for over a year while collecting subscription fees from \u201cmillions of paying users.\u201d<\/p>\n Sony Music\u2019s complaint said: \u201cWhen companies exploit Sony Music\u2019s sound recordings for commercial benefit without authorization, this not only harms Sony Music by depriving it of compensation, but it also reduces the incentive to invest in the creation and dissemination of new music.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawsuit cited four licensing agreements that allowed Napster to stream Sony Music\u2019s catalog of recordings. According to the 17-page court document, Napster accumulated $6.79 million<\/b> in overdue payments by March 5, 2025 across three of the contracts.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen companies exploit Sony Music\u2019s sound recordings for commercial benefit without authorization, this not only harms Sony Music by depriving it of compensation, but it also reduces the incentive to invest in the creation and dissemination of new music.\u201d<\/p>\n Sony Music\u2019s Legal Team<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n When factoring in subsequent missed payments and fees from a fourth agreement, the total reached $9.2 million<\/b>, Sony said.<\/p>\n Sony Music\u2019s legal team wrote: \u201cFor over a year, Defendants have failed to pay Plaintiffs the license fees and royalty payments as required by the Foundation Media Content License Agreement, Orchard Content License Agreement, Content Integration Agreement, and Framework Agreement\u2014all while Defendants continued to collect subscription fees from their millions of paying users.\u201d<\/p>\n When Napster\u2019s parent company agreed to sell the platform to Infinite Reality in November 2024, Sony Music said the deal would trigger its right to terminate its agreements with Napster, \u201cwhich would deprive [Napster\u2019s parent] Rhapsody of the ability to stream Plaintiffs\u2019 valuable sound recordings.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Sony Music agreed to waive termination rights tied to Napster\u2019s ownership change in exchange for a payment plan. Under the March 5, 2025, arrangement, Napster would pay the outstanding balance in four installments, with the first due 15 days after the acquisition<\/a> closed and subsequent payments through January 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite that termination, Defendants have continued to reproduce, distribute, publicly perform and otherwise exploit Sony Music Entertainment\u2019s sound recordings on Napster, without any legal right to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n Sony Music\u2019s Legal Team<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Sony Music\u2019s legal representatives alleges that Napster failed to make any scheduled payments. As a result, Sony Music and its affiliates Orchard Enterprises NY, Foundation Media <\/b>and Sony Music Entertainment Brasil<\/b> terminated Napster\u2019s licenses to use Sony Music\u2019s sound recordings on Napster in June and July 2025.<\/p>\n They wrote: \u201cDespite that termination, Defendants have continued to reproduce, distribute, publicly perform and otherwise exploit Sony Music Entertainment\u2019s sound recordings on Napster, without any legal right to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n Sony\u2019s attorneys added: \u201cDefendants\u2019 exploitation of Plaintiffs\u2019 valuable intellectual property without compensation to Plaintiffs has caused Plaintiffs substantial harm. Accordingly, Plaintiffs bring this action to recover the millions of dollars Defendants owe to Plaintiffs under the parties\u2019 agreements, as well as to seek relief for Defendants\u2019 willful infringement of Plaintiffs\u2019 copyrights.\u201d<\/p>\n Sony is seeking damages for breach of contract up to $150,000<\/b> per infringed work, citing 240<\/b> tracks<\/a> from artists including Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, <\/b>and Miley Cyrus<\/b> that were allegedly used without authorization. This could potentially result in up to $37.5 million<\/b> in damages for the infringed songs.<\/p>\n The lawsuit marks another legal challenge for Napster, which was also sued<\/a>, alongside Sonos<\/b>, by SoundExchange<\/a><\/b> in June over more than $3.4 million <\/b>in unpaid copyright royalties tied to the Sonos Radio streaming service that operated from 2020 to 2023.<\/p>\n SoundExchange\u2019s lawyers wrote: \u201cSonos and Napster have made certain payments that fall far short of their obligations. In total, Sonos, and its agent Napster, have failed to pay at least $3,423,844.41 <\/b>comprising royalties owed for the period October 2022 to April 2023, interest, late fees, and auditor fee-shifting costs, and subtracting Sonos and Napster\u2019s payments made to date. Late fees and interest continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n In January, Billboard<\/a> <\/i>reported<\/a> that Napster had been making late royalty payments to multiple distributors and labels, sometimes by as much as a year.<\/p>\n Napster, which claims to be the longest-operating digital music service, was acquired<\/a> by tech startup Infinite Reality in a $207 million <\/b>deal in March. The acquisition arrived a few weeks after Infinite Reality closed a $3 billion<\/b> funding round from a private investor, valuing the company at $12.25 billion<\/b>.<\/p>\n Infinite Reality is backed by investors including notable individuals such as\u00a0Steve Aoki, Imagine Dragons<\/b>, NBA player Rudy Gobert<\/b>, and tennis player Taylor Fritz<\/b>.<\/p>\n For Sony Music, the\u00a0Napster case is among the latest lawsuits that the music giant has lodged in recent months. In March, the company sued<\/a> the University of Southern California<\/strong> (USC), alleging the school repeatedly and willfully used unauthorized copyrighted music in its social media posts.<\/p>\n In June last year, Sony, along with Universal Music Group<\/a> and<\/strong> Warner Music Group<\/a><\/strong>, sued<\/a> AI startups Suno<\/strong> and Udio<\/strong> in the US for allegedly training their systems using the majors\u2019 recordings without permission \u2013 an accusation they\u00a0pretty much admitted<\/a>\u00a0to in court filings last August.<\/p>\n\n
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