Universal Music Group sue Believe and TuneCore for $500million for sharing sped-up songs to evade copyright

nme.com:

Universal Music Group (UMG), ABKCO Music & Records and Concord Music Group have sued Believe and TuneCore, claiming they shared sped-up songs to evade copyright.As reported by Music Business Worldwide, the major-label conglomerate has alleged that Believe SAS – the digital music company formerly known as Believe Music and its subsidiary TuneCore – have committed “industrial-scale copyright infringement,” and are currently seeking $500 million in damages.Filed in federal court on Monday (November 4), the suit claimed that TuneCore has served as a hub for sped-up bootleg versions of copyrighted songs.

UMG has alleged that Believe distributed “millions” of slightly altered versions of major-label tracks onto both streaming and video platforms with credit going to artists under the names “Kendirk Laamar” and “Arriana Gramde”.

According to the lawsuit (as per Stereogum), allegedly little has been done by Believe to stop the spread of copyright violations, which have allowed users to evade YouTube’s content-identification system.“As the distributor of these tracks, Believe had specific knowledge of infringement or, at minimum, was actually aware of facts indicating a high likelihood of infringement, but continued to distribute and purport to license the same tracks to other services, continuing to violate Plaintiffs’ copyrights and to divert royalties that ought to have flowed to Plaintiffs,” read the suit.Music Business Worldwide noted that TuneCore included a terms-and-conditions clause which forces users to accept blame for any copyright violations.