Numerous music sharing and streaming platforms have been involved in lawsuits, most famously Napster, which was sued for mass copyright infringement by the music industry and forced to shut down its original service. More recently, major streaming services like Spotify have also faced various lawsuits.
36 Landmark Musical Work Copyright Infringement Cases
Spotify was hit with a class action lawsuit in federal court accusing the streaming giant of disguising its Discovery Mode, which recommends songs to users in certain algorithmic mixes based on their tastes, as part of a scheme to boost songs by artists who pay the streaming service.
On April 13, 2000, Metallica filed a lawsuit against the file sharing company Napster. Metallica alleged that Napster was guilty of copyright infringement and racketeering, as defined by the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
So why has Eminem lost this case? The rapper's company originally filed the suit because they claimed that Spotify had deceptively pretended to have the licences for 243 of his songs.
On 3 November 2014, Swift removed her discography from Spotify. Swift had previously delayed the streaming of her 2012 album Red. Swift stated: "I'm not willing to contribute my life's work to an experiment that I don't feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music.
Eminem has referenced Taylor Swift multiple times, most notably in a 2024 promo for his album The Death of Slim Shady, where his alter-ego, Slim Shady, declared, "You're not f***ing Taylor Swift. You had one era that mattered...mine," seemingly acknowledging her massive, multi-era success as a point of comparison for his own legacy, while also alluding to her Reputation era themes. He also previously defended her during Kanye West's infamous 2009 VMA interruption, calling it inappropriate.
Metallica famously refuses to play the song "Escape" from their Ride the Lightning album, largely due to James Hetfield's dislike for its forced, mainstream sound, a result of label pressure for a radio single, though they did play it once live at the 2012 Orion Festival due to overwhelming fan demand. Other songs they rarely play or avoid include some from St. Anger (like "Dirty Window") or deeper cuts like "The Frayed Ends of Sanity," though "Escape" remains the most notable example of their strong aversion.
'The Metallica Blacklist' celebrates the 30th anniversary and enduring influence of the iconic 'Black Album', with one of the most ambitious projects ever conceived by the Metallica team: An unprecedented 50+ artists spanning an unbelievably vast range of genres, generations, cultures, continents and more, each ...
Find tickets for 'metallica' at Ticketmaster.com.
Jay-Z removed most of his music from {!nav}Spotify in 2017, and intermittently, due to his advocacy for artist compensation and his ownership of {!nav}Tidal, a competing streaming service, viewing Spotify's free tier as devaluing music and wanting to drive users to platforms that offer better artist payouts. He returned much of his catalog to Spotify in late 2019 as a birthday gesture, but the move highlighted his broader critique of streaming royalties and his desire for music to be paid for.
In case you didn't already know it, facts and figures put together by Forbes show that Daniel Ek, Spotify's CEO and founder is currently worth $7.3 billion. That's richer than their musical top three of Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Jay-Z combined. Richer, therefore, than any music artist in history.
It's not legal to use Spotify in public places for any size and type of business including hotels, retail stores, restaurants, bars, offices, medical clinics, gyms, salons, spas or schools. With Spotify, you can only stream music for non-commercial, personal entertainment use.
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was written by of New York City music publishers and songwriters known as Tin Pan Alley. As more than 95 years have passed, the original song is now in the public domain in the United States.
The "15 Second" or "8 Bar" Rule
The reality is that there is no legal protection in copyright law for these types of use. If you use a piece of a composition or sound recording that is copyrighted, you will need a license.
Queen and David Bowie v.
At the top of most famous copyright cases lists is that of rock legends David Bowie and Queen against rapper Vanilla Ice. If you've ever heard the opening seconds of Ice's 1990 hit "Ice Ice Baby" and thought it could be Queen and Bowie's "Under Pressure," you wouldn't be alone.
M72 refers to Metallica's M72 World Tour, supporting their album 72 Seasons, where "72 Seasons" signifies the formative first 18 years of life (18 years x 4 seasons/year), exploring how childhood experiences shape adulthood; the tour itself features an "in-the-round" stage design in stadiums, notes Wikipedia.
While it's subjective, "Fade to Black", "To Live Is to Die", and "Low Man's Lyric" are frequently cited as Metallica's saddest songs, often due to themes of suicide, loss (like Cliff Burton's death for "To Live Is to Die"), and deep personal despair, with others also pointing to "Mama Said" for its raw look at a difficult mother-son relationship, according to fans on Reddit and Loudwire.
A week before its release date, Prince had the album withdrawn after having a spiritual experience that convinced him the album was 'evil. ' Warner Bros. worked extremely hard to destroy all of the 500,000 copies that had been pressed—very few survived, making extant examples among the rarest records in the world.
There's no single "number 1 saddest song" as it's subjective, but R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" often tops polls due to its universal message of despair and solidarity, while other contenders include Sinéad O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U", Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven", Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah," and Nirvana's "Something in the Way," often cited for their deep emotional impact and poignant lyrics.
Metallica and Megadeth, though, being the biggest of the four, still reign on as the undisputed kings of the metal scene. Both bands, however, are well known for the massive rivalry shared between the two.
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Snoop Dogg during the tribute to 2Pac gave the presentation and said 2Pac is the greatest rapper of all time. However, he later went on Jimmy Kimmel Live and said the top 3 best rappers are; Slick Rick, Ice Cube and him Snoop.
Justin Bieber “criticized” Eminem's new song as “old- fashioned” and said that Eminem “doesn't understand” the new rap trend!
In the original recording, Shakur also insulted Jay-Z at the ending segment, but removed it after being convinced by Outlawz members that Jay-Z had nothing to do with the conflict between Death Row and Bad Boy.