A publisher of music by Eminem filed a complaint in a US federal court against Meta Platforms for “wilful copyright infringement” by distributing its music over its social platforms from a music library that Meta maintained; claiming that Meta had no license agreement to do so.
The publisher, Eight Mile Style, alleges that Meta had deal with a royalty collection agency called Audiam, but that Audiam “did not have the authority to enter into any license on behalf of Eight Mile Style.” It said that Meta was aware that “no license was granted by Audiam or Eight Mile Style … and the Audiam license with Meta contained no reference to the Eight Mile Style Compositions.”
Meta maintains a library of licensed music to help it avoid copyright infringement stemming from distribution of music uploaded by social media users for use by other social users. While Meta removed several unlicensed compositions after Eight Mile notified Meta of their presence, Eight Mile alleges that Meta was not diligent in removing derivative and cover versions of these compositions.
As of this writing (June 4, 2025), Meta Platforms had not yet responded.
243 works
Included with the complaint was an exhibit that listed 243 works that Eight Mile claimed had been subjected to infringing use, along with the percentage royalty that the works should yield if they had been licensed.
“The rampant infringement of which Meta is guilty is not a case of merely allowing its users to infringe the Eight Mile Compositions by means of its users uploading the compositions for use in their WhatsApp, Facebook, or Instagram account pages. Rather, this case involves Meta’s knowing infringement of the Eight Mile Compositions by first reproducing and storing them in Meta’s online Music Libraries, and then distributing them for users to select and incorporate (or “synchronize”) into their own photos and videos made available for public streaming on the users’ WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram accounts, and actively encouraging billions of users of its online services to do so, all willfully, and without a license. Thus, as Meta knows, it does not enjoy and is not eligible for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (“DMCA”) safe harbor provisions,” said the Complaint.
The $109 miillion remedy was arrived at as follows:
“Eight Mile Style seeks monetary damages, including actual damages, damages for the diminished value of the copyrights by Defendants’ theft of them, lost profits, and Defendants’ profits attributable to the infringement, or alternatively maximum statutory damages for willful copyright infringement for each of Eight Mile Style’s works ($150,000 per work, times 243 works, times 3 platforms), and all other remedies available under the Copyright Act, for Meta’s willful, direct and/or secondary infringement of Eight Mile Style’s Compositions by reproduction, storage, distribution, and transmission of the Eight Mile Compositions.”
A red herring?
According to industry reporting, this current lawsuit is similar to one against Spotify that was dismissed in 2024; in which the judge concluded that Eight Mile had “attempted to enrich itself and abuse the legal system.”
Further reading
Complaint. Eight Mile Style, LLC et al v. Meta Platforms, Inc. et al. Document 1. Case 2:25-cv-11618-BRM-DG. Filed May 30 2025. US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Meta sued for alleged ‘rampant infringement’ of Eminem songs on Facebook, Instagram. Article. June 2, 2025. by Daniel Tencer. Music Business Worldwide
Spotify just won a long-running lawsuit over streaming of Eminem’s catalog – despite the court finding it didn’t have a license for the music. What does this mean for publishers? Article. September 2, 2024. by Daniel Tencer. Music Business Worldwide
Why it matters
This case might be categorized as a first cousin to other cases – including against Meta Platforms – which allege that AI platform providers have been training their large language models with unlicenced content.
But in this case, it’s unlicensed distribution of music, and this plaintiff may not win it.
The irony lies in the fact that Meta maintains a library to help it avoid accusations of piracy as a result of its social media users who want to upload their copies of musical selections to Meta’s social platforms. That situation, coupled with conclusions by a judge in a prior case involving Eight Mile, casts some uncertainty on this present case.
