Spotify faces $1.6 billion lawsuit over song licensing

Spotify is no stranger to facing lawsuits accusing it of offering unlicensed songs, but the latest could prove to be very costly. Hollywood Reporter has learned that Wixen Music Publishing, which manages the song composition rights for artists ranging from Neil Young to Zach de la Rocha, has sued Spotify for copyright damages of at least $1.6 billion. Wixen claims that the streaming service is using tens of thousands of songs without proper licenses and the compensation to match. The plaintiff had already objected to proposed $43 million settlement in another case in May, so this wasn’t coming entirely out of the blue.

15 Great Songs You Didn’t Know Sia Wrote

On January 29th, Sia will release her seventh studio album, This Is Acting. The LP has an unusual premise in that the majority of the songs were originally intended for other artists — some of today’s biggest pop stars ranging from Beyoncé to Adele, who opted not to use Sia’s compositions on their own albums. Instead of shelving the unwanted tunes, Sia chose to release her own versions. “I feel like they’re hits, but nobody wanted them,” the songwriter told us of the tracks on the new LP. “So I thought, ‘Let’s see, as an experiment, if I’m right.'”

Lupe Fiasco – AUTOBOTO

Benny The Butcher – Bust A Brick Nick

Tory Lanez – Mucky James

Lupe Fiasco – 100 Chicagos

Sauce Walka – “Mirror Effect”

21 Savage – “No Debate” / “Big Smoke”

Flamingo at the Cincinnati Zoo

Mt. Gang Rinpoche (Tibet)

Smithsonian.com

Morning Hour

The first one

POLAR BEAR ON ICEBERG

Ibis Fight