Music companies have sued Twitter for $250 million for’massive’ copyright infringement.

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) is suing Twitter on behalf of 17 music publishers who represent some of the industry’s top musicians. According to the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Tennessee, the corporation “fuels its business with countless infringing copies of musical compositions, violating Publishers’ and others’ exclusive rights under copyright law.”

It also includes a list of roughly 1,700 songs (listed below) that the publishers claim have been included in multiple copyright notices to Twitter without the firm doing anything about it, with the publishers asking the court to punish Twitter up to $150,000 for each breach.

The problem predates Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter last year. According to unnamed employees, Twitter cut a music licencing deal due to the cost, which could amount to more than $100 million per year — the Times also reported in March that licencing deals between three major labels and Twitter had stalled following Musk’s takeover last autumn.

Musk’s tweets, as well as his improved Twitter Blue package with the ability to submit lengthier videos, were also included in the case. It makes no mention of the recent rush of films uploaded to Twitter, such as copies of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Avatar: The Way of Water that lasted hours before being removed. Instead, it provides examples from Musk’s tweets.

A user complained that their account may be banned after five copyright notifications, which Musk stated he was “looking into,” and suggested them to “consider turning on subscriptions,” which the suit claims pushed them to pay Twitter to hide the infringing material so it wouldn’t be noticed. Elon Musk remarked in another tweet that the “overzealous DMCA is a plague on humanity.” Musk also tweeted in March that “accounts engaging in repeated, egregious weaponization of DMCA on Twitter or encouraging weaponization of DMCA will receive temporary suspensions,” while claiming that “reasonable media takedown requests are, of course, appropriate and will always be supported.”

The majority of the claimed infringement reported to Twitter is due to music videos, films of live music performances, or other videos synchronised to copyrighted music, and it accuses Twitter of utilising those videos to increase its value by increasing the amount of time people spend on its site. According to the NMPA, Twitter has neglected to remove infringing content after being alerted and has “continued to assist known repeat infringers with their infringement” without putting their accounts at danger.

@elonmusk just announced that a new Twitter CEO will be starting in 6 weeks. First order of business – address the massive amount of unlicensed music on the platform. Songs have value.

— David Israelite (@DavidIsraelite) May 11, 2023

The majority of the other major social networks have agreements with music publishers and labels, and the complaint names TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat. After a brief spat between Amazon-owned Twitch and the music industry in late 2020, Twitch announced an agreement to “work together” with the NMPA by September 2021. Roblox and Peloton are two other startups that have recently settled with the NMPA over music copyright.

Also Read: Two more journalists have been charged with sedition.

Following Musk’s announcement that a new Twitter CEO would be chosen shortly, NMPA president David Israelite tweeted to Musk that their first order of business should be to “address the massive amount of unlicensed music on the platform,” echoing a similar statement from last spring.

Twitter has not reacted to demands for comment on the complaint, and Musk has been tweeting about Tucker Carlson and violence in San Francisco since the lawsuit was filed, while new CEO Linda Yaccarino has not tweeted since posting the substance of her first letter to the company’s workers.