Musks X sues music publishers over alleged licensing conspiracy 

Elon Musk’s

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Texas, accused the National Music Publishers Association, Sony Music, Universal Music, Warner Chappell and other music publishers of violating federal antitrust law by refusing to negotiate individual licensing deals with X.

“X was denied the opportunity to obtain a U.S. music composition license on competitive terms from any individual music publisher,” the lawsuit said.

The National Music Publishers Association, Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Chappell did not immediately respond to requests for comment. X did not immediately respond to a similar request.

The lawsuit alleges that publishers representing more than 90% of copyrighted music in the United States joined forces through the National Music Publishers Association to conspire against X.

X said publishers have flooded the platform with weekly takedown notices targeting thousands of posts containing copyrighted music, including content from high-profile accounts, to pressure the platform into accepting industry-wide licensing terms.

The complaint stated that X removed thousands of posts and suspended more than 50,000 users, hurting its user base and advertising revenue. He requested the court to restore competition conditions in music licensing and to compensate for X’s loss of advertising revenue.

In 2024, The publishers sought damages of more than $250 million.

Some of the publishers who sued were willing to reach a settlement on individual terms, X said in Friday’s lawsuit.

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