Elon Musk’s X sues Sony, Universal and other major music publishers, saying the company was ‘denied the ability to…’

Core Viewpoint - X Corp, owned by Elon Musk, has filed a lawsuit against major music publishers, alleging collusion to prevent the company from negotiating individual licensing agreements for musical works, which violates federal antitrust laws [1][2][3] Group 1: Lawsuit Details - The lawsuit was filed in a Texas federal district court and includes major publishers such as Sony Music, Universal Music, and Warner Chappell [1] - X Corp claims it has been unable to acquire musical composition licenses from individual publishers on competitive terms, suggesting that the collective action of these publishers aimed to impose inflated licensing rates [2][3] - The lawsuit alleges that music publishers representing over 90% of copyrighted music in the US collaborated through the National Music Publishers' Association to act against X Corp [5][8] Group 2: Impact on X Corp - X Corp states that the publishers have been sending numerous takedown requests weekly, seeking the removal of thousands of posts containing copyrighted music, which has pressured the company into accepting unfavorable licensing terms [5][8] - The lawsuit claims that X has already taken down thousands of posts and suspended over 50,000 users, negatively impacting its user base and advertising revenue [8] - X Corp is seeking to restore fair competition in music licensing and to be compensated for lost advertising income [8] Group 3: Previous Legal Context - In 2024, X Corp successfully had most of a 2023 lawsuit filed by 17 music publishers dismissed, which accused the company of copyright violations involving nearly 1,700 songs and sought over $250 million in damages [6][8] - The latest lawsuit indicates that some of the involved publishers have shown willingness to settle the dispute through individual agreements [6][8]