Napster and Sonos Sued For Millions In Unpaid Music Royalties (torrentfreak.com)
(Thursday June 19, 2025 @03:00AM (BeauHD)
from the what-year-is-it dept.)
- Reference: 0178090941
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/06/18/1921253/napster-and-sonos-sued-for-millions-in-unpaid-music-royalties
- Source link: https://torrentfreak.com/napster-and-sonos-sued-for-millions-in-unpaid-music-royalties/
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak:
> Napster, the brand synonymous with the music piracy boom of the early 2000s, has a new copyright challenge. Together with audio giant Sonos, Napster faces a lawsuit [1]demanding over $3.4 million in alleged unpaid copyright royalties . Filed by collective rights management organization SoundExchange, [2]the complaint (PDF) centers on missed payments related to the "Sonos Radio" service, which until 2023 was powered by Napster's music catalog. [...]
>
> Sonos Radio launched in April 2020 with Napster as the authorized agent, submitting the required royalty reports and royalties to SoundExchange. While all went well initially, payments stopped around May 2022. At the time, Napster had been acquired by venture capital firms Hivemind and Algorand, with a focus on "web3" technologies, including cryptocurrencies and blockchain. According to the complaint, the takeover resulted in a "complete breakdown of reporting and payment for the Sonos Radio service." The alleged payment problems eventually came to light during an audit initiated by SoundExchange in 2023, which concluded that Sonos and Napster owed millions in unpaid royalties.
>
> Sonos and Napster are no longer partners in the radio service, as the audio equipment manufacturer switched to Deezer around April 2023. That appears to have solved the royalty issues, but SoundExchange still believes it is owed more than $3 million. "In total, Sonos, and its agent Napster, have failed to pay at least $3,423,844.41 comprising royalties owed for the period October 2022 to April 2023, interest, late fees, and auditor fee-shifting costs, and subtracting Sonos and Napster's payments made to date. "Late fees and interest continue to grow," SoundExchange adds, while requesting compensation in full. The complaint lists one count of "underpayment" of statutory royalties, and one count of "non-payment" of royalties, as determined by the audit. For both Copyright Act violations, SoundExchange requests damages of at least $3.4 million.
[1] https://torrentfreak.com/napster-and-sonos-sued-for-millions-in-unpaid-music-royalties/
[2] https://torrentfreak.com/images/soundexch-sonos.pdf
> Napster, the brand synonymous with the music piracy boom of the early 2000s, has a new copyright challenge. Together with audio giant Sonos, Napster faces a lawsuit [1]demanding over $3.4 million in alleged unpaid copyright royalties . Filed by collective rights management organization SoundExchange, [2]the complaint (PDF) centers on missed payments related to the "Sonos Radio" service, which until 2023 was powered by Napster's music catalog. [...]
>
> Sonos Radio launched in April 2020 with Napster as the authorized agent, submitting the required royalty reports and royalties to SoundExchange. While all went well initially, payments stopped around May 2022. At the time, Napster had been acquired by venture capital firms Hivemind and Algorand, with a focus on "web3" technologies, including cryptocurrencies and blockchain. According to the complaint, the takeover resulted in a "complete breakdown of reporting and payment for the Sonos Radio service." The alleged payment problems eventually came to light during an audit initiated by SoundExchange in 2023, which concluded that Sonos and Napster owed millions in unpaid royalties.
>
> Sonos and Napster are no longer partners in the radio service, as the audio equipment manufacturer switched to Deezer around April 2023. That appears to have solved the royalty issues, but SoundExchange still believes it is owed more than $3 million. "In total, Sonos, and its agent Napster, have failed to pay at least $3,423,844.41 comprising royalties owed for the period October 2022 to April 2023, interest, late fees, and auditor fee-shifting costs, and subtracting Sonos and Napster's payments made to date. "Late fees and interest continue to grow," SoundExchange adds, while requesting compensation in full. The complaint lists one count of "underpayment" of statutory royalties, and one count of "non-payment" of royalties, as determined by the audit. For both Copyright Act violations, SoundExchange requests damages of at least $3.4 million.
[1] https://torrentfreak.com/napster-and-sonos-sued-for-millions-in-unpaid-music-royalties/
[2] https://torrentfreak.com/images/soundexch-sonos.pdf
Napster Bad (Score:3)
by viperidaenz ( 2515578 )
Beer good!
Isn't there a statute of limitations? (Score:2)
by FudRucker ( 866063 )
And Napster has been dead & gone quite a while now
Re: (Score:2)
by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 )
The summary explains this.
Napster went "legit" and started legally licensing music, then partnered with Sonos, but stopped paying the royalties. It's more a case of a leopard and his spots.
Re: (Score:2)
by Random361 ( 6742804 )
I have to do it. [1]Take the Money and Run. [youtu.be]
[1] https://youtu.be/-WCFUGCOLLU?si=UAi76tIyXviyu5p0&t=50
BK (Score:2)
by hwstar ( 35834 )
Well, there's always bankruptcy if they can't pay it.
[Watch out for corporate veil piercing, however]
Sorry I just woke up⦠(Score:2)
What year is it?
Napster is getting sued for copyright infringement.
That doesnâ(TM)t help me.
I was here for the first time this happened.
God Iâ(TM)m old.
Re: (Score:2)
Doesn't ANYBODY but me remember that "Napster" was actually RealNetworks? You know, the old Real.com that was the Internet's first scale, commercial streamer? Real became Rhapsody for several years. Rhapsody had no name recognition, so they bought the Napster name from it's owners... BEST BUY.
It gets weirder. Rhapsody had been Sonos' partner streaming service - and Rhapsody is also... I HEART RADIO. Now the whole Napster lot got dumped in the lap of venture capital vultures.