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Spotify Blasts MLC’s Audiobook Royalties Lawsuit As ‘Nonsensical’ and ‘Wasteful’

Spotify wants a judge to toss out the Mechanical Licensing Collective's lawsuit over royalty rates and audiobooks, calling the case “nonsensical.”

But in a motion to dismiss filed in court Tuesday, Spotify calls those claims “meritless and wasteful” – arguing that making hundreds of thousands of audiobooks available to subscribers was not a “token” gesture aimed at reducing music royalties. “And it profoundly devalues the contributions of the tens of thousands of book authors whose works are available with a Spotify Premium subscription—from literary luminaries, to mainstays on best sellers lists, to up-and-coming writers who are finding their audience.” The MLC, which collects streaming royalties for songwriters and publishers, filed its lawsuit in late May — a week after Billboard estimated that Spotify’s move would result in the company paying roughly $150 million less over the next year.

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