Wixen Music Publishing, the publishing company which represents various compositions by Tom Petty, Neil Young, Stevie Nicks, Rivers Cuomo, and others, has settled its lawsuit with Spotify. Filed late last year, the publishing company sought $1.6 billion in damages on behalf of its artists, alleging that the music platform used Petty’s “Free Fallin'” and around 10,000 other songs in their catalog without license or compensation. Wixen and Spotify have now agreed to a final dismissal of the lawsuit, which was settled for an undisclosed sum, as BBC News reports.
“I am truly glad that we were able to come to a resolution without litigating the matter,” Wixen Music Publishing President Randall Wixen shared in a statement. “Spotify listened to our concerns, collaborated with us to resolve them and demonstrated throughout that Spotify is a true partner to the songwriting community.”
“Wixen represents some of the world’s greatest talents and most treasured creators, and this settlement represents its commitment to providing first-rate service and support to songwriters while broadening its relationship with Spotify,” the streaming platform’s General Counsel and Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs Horacio Gutierrez shared in the same statement. According to the companies, the settlement is “part of a broader business partnership between the parties” which hopes to establish a “mutually-advantageous relationship for the future.”
In addition to the aforementioned artists, Wixen currently holds publishing rights to songs by Kim Gordon, Jonathan Richman, Al Green, Carlos Santana, Tom Morello, Missy Elliott, the Black Keys, and more.
