Members include some of the biggest publishing companies, such as Sony Music Publishing, Kobalt, Warner Chappell, BMG, and Universal Music Publishing.

After years of trying to obtain a music licensing deal, the National Music Publishers Association (NMAP), the trade association that represents American music publishers and their songwriting partners, and its members officially filed a lawsuit in a Nashville Federal Court that claims the social media giant Twitter demonstrated copyright infringement on over 1,7000 songs.

NMPA EVP and General Counsel Danielle Aguirre announced the lawsuit during the State of the Industry address at NMPA’s Annual Meeting.

Per infringement, the plaintiffs are requesting up to $150,000 in damages. Thus, Twitter could owe $255 million if they are found guilty. The allegations include copyright infringement, contributory infringement, and vicarious infringement.

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In a statement, NMPA President David Israelite said,

Twitter stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service.

Today, Twitter remains the only major social media company to not have a licensing agreement. In the suit, the accusers stated that they previously looked for Twitter’s new leadership to advance an agreement. However, Elon Musk’s leadership hasn’t moved the conversations along.

Twitter has yet to comment on the copyright infringement allegations.

Image Credits: © Brett Jordan @brett_jordan | Unsplash