Photo Credit: Dima Solomin
Major music publishers and Elon Musk’s X have dropped their lawsuits against one another, but information about a settlement has yet to be revealed.
A group of major music publishers, including Concord, previously sued Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), alleging mass-scale copyright infringement. The publishers were then counter-sued by X with allegations of antitrust collusion. Now, after years of back and forth, the two cases have been dismissed with prejudice.
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.
So why didn’t X just go in for the kill?
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). However, X remains at a competitive disadvantage against other social media competitors who pay the full scope of music and video licensing.
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 counter-sued 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 also declined The New York Times’ request for comment.