Eminem’s music publisher is suing Meta over accusations that Facebook and Instagram made “Lose Yourself” and other iconic tracks available to billions of users without permission, violating copyright law on a “massive” scale in the pursuit of “obscene monetary benefit.”
In a complaint filed Friday (May 30) in federal court, Eight Mile Style alleged that the social media giant added Eminem’s songs to its music library without the necessary licenses, allowing users to add them to millions of videos that have been “viewed billions of times.”
“Meta’s years-long and ongoing infringement of the Eight Mile compositions is another case of a trillion (with a ‘T’) dollar company exploiting the creative efforts of musical artists for the obscene monetary benefit of its executives and shareholders without a license and without regard to the rights of the owners of the intellectual property,” Eight Mile Style’s lawyer, Richard Busch, wrote in the filing.
Eight Mile’s lawyers made a point to note that the lawsuit was not about Facebook and Instagram users uploading songs illegally — an issue heavily litigated between tech companies and music firms for years — but about the platforms themselves actively infringing copyrights.
“The rampant infringement of which Meta is guilty is not a case of merely allowing its users to infringe,” Busch wrote. “Rather, this case involves Meta’s knowing infringement of the [Eminem songs] by first reproducing and storing them in Meta’s online Music Libraries, and then distributing them for users to select and incorporate into their own photos and videos.”
Eminem doesn’t own Eight Mile Style, and the rapper is not involved in the litigation. A spokesperson for Meta did not immediately return a request for comment. Reached by Billboard, Eight Mile’s attorney Busch said: “Everything we have to say is in the complaint.”
Eight Mile Style is no stranger to copyright litigation. The company spent years suing Spotify over claims that the streamer didn’t secure proper licenses before uploading Eminem’s music to the platform. That case was dismissed last year by a federal judge who said the publisher had waited too long to sue.
At the center of Friday’s lawsuit are the huge libraries of fully licensed music that modern social media platforms provide for users, making it easy to add their favorite songs to their videos and photos. Such catalogs were an attempt to fix the chaotic early days of social media, where users would upload infringing music and sites would take it down if flagged.
The key innovation of those libraries is that they were licensed by rightsholders, but Eight Mile Style says Meta has no such license to include Eminem’s music in the libraries on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
“The Eight Mile compositions are some of the most valuable in the world, and Eight Mile Style is very protective of these iconic songs,” the company’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. “Defendants have enjoyed massive profits at Eight Mile Style’s expense, in an amount to be determined, by copying and making the Eight Mile compositions available to Meta’s billions of active daily users.”
Notably, Eight Mile’s lawyers say they have proof that Meta knew it needed a license for Eminem’s music but had failed to secure one.
The suit claims that in 2020, Meta negotiated a music license with Audiam, a digital rights collection agency, to cover music that appears on its platforms. During those talks, the suit says the social giant “tried to negotiate, unsuccessfully” to include the Eight Mile tracks in that deal — and came away from it knowing “that no license was granted by Audiam or Eight Mile Style as part of those negotiations.”
“Indeed, these facts were confirmed by Audiam prior to this litigation, and Meta has not provided Eight Mile Style with any license authorizing its use of the Eight Mile Compositions, despite repeated requests to do so,” Busch wrote in the Friday complaint. Audiam is not named in the suit nor accused of any wrongdoing.
