Photo Credit: Dima Solomin
Major music publishers and Elon Musk’s X have abruptly dropped their lawsuits against one another, but information about a settlement (if any) has yet to be revealed. For now, neither side is talking.
After years of outright legal war and licensing impasses, X and major music publishers have laid down their weapons. Now, the question is what happens next.
The group of major music publishers, led by Concord, previously sued Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) alleging mass-scale copyright infringement. The publishers were then countersued by X with allegations of antitrust collusion. Now, after years of back and forth, the two cases have been dismissed with prejudice. In legal-speak, that means these cases can’t be retried.
So what changed?
Well, for starters, the Supreme Court ruling in the highly publicized and controversial Cox v. Sony Music gave X a major advantage in the case. The presiding judge had already tossed out a majority of the publishers’ claims against X, making their last remaining theory of contributory infringement integral to any hope of a court victory. After the Cox v. Sony ruling, X immediately filed a motion to have the publishers’ entire lawsuit thrown out.
That suggests that X could have gone for the kill, though perhaps dropping the suits was the most practical and economic step for both sides.
It’s not entirely clear why X isn’t currently paying to license music across its platform (which is a big part of the reason the publishers were suing the former Twitter in the first place). But even without legal penalties, that stance comes with consequences. As a result of their antagonistic stance, X currently remains at a competitive disadvantage against other social media competitors who pay the full scope of music and video licensing.
Whether that matters to X is another matter entirely, though all shall be revealed in future settlement announcements (or lack thereof).
But while neither side has yet commented on the matter or a potential settlement, it stands to reason that some sort of licensing framework between the two is on the horizon.
To provide some background, the legal battle between X and the music industry began in 2023, when a group of 17 music companies and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) sued X, then still known as Twitter, for $250 million. They alleged that the company had failed to take meaningful action against rampant copyright infringement on its platform.
The case arrived just months after Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, issuing mass layoffs and significant changes to the company’s operations. The acquisition also put a nail in the coffin of licensing negotiations between Twitter and the music industry that had been ongoing for over two years.
In January, X countersued the music publishers with allegations of antitrust collusion via their trade group, the NMPA, to force X to agree to blanket licensing deals at a higher rate. X also accused the publishers of “weaponizing” and “bombarding” the company with copyright takedown notices.
Fast forward to the present, and neither side has provided a reason for the dismissal. But dismissing the cases with prejudice means neither side will be able to refile in the future, which further suggests that some sort of deal has been negotiated.
Representatives for X did not respond to media requests for comment, and a spokesperson for the NMPA has also refrained from commenting.
More as this develops.
