Spotify faces two new lawsuits for copyright infringement

The two suits were filed in Nashville, Tennessee by the same attorney on behalf of Bob Gaudio, one of the founders of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, and a group called Bluewater Music Services. Bluewater oversees a vast collection of copyrighted works for artists such as Miranda Lambert, Willie Nelson, and even Guns n' Roses.

Both suits claim Spotify failed to properly license and pay for use of song compositions.

"Spotify’s apparent business model from the outset was to commit willful copyright infringement first, ask questions later, and try to settle on the cheap when inevitably sued," the nearly-identical complaints state.

Both parties are demanding $150,000 per individual work infringed, the maximum statutory damages allowed under US copyright law.

Gaudio's suit claims Spotify is streaming 106 of his compositions, including 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You' and 'Rag Doll,' without the songs being properly licensed. Bluewater has listed 2,339 infringed works. Altogether the two lawsuits could cost Spotify hundreds of millions.

The streaming website has a number of agreements with music labels and other organisations which give them permission to use song recordings. However the two new lawsuits deal with licensing song compositions, which are the rights owned by a song's composer and lyricist.

Spotify have acknowledged the difficulty in keeping track of composers for the tens of millions of copyrighted songs available on their platform, but previous lawsuits have claimed the company aren't doing enough on this front.

“Songwriters and publishers should not have to work this hard to get paid, or have their life work properly licensed," says Richard Busch, the attorney representing both Gaudio and Bluewater in the separate cases.

The company has not yet commented on the newly-lodged lawsuits.