US Spotify users can’t stream music by David Lowery’s two bands, Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, after the service removed them as part of its legal dispute with the musician over publishing royalties.
However, the details of the removal are already being argued over. “We have had a letter from David Lowery’s lawyers asking that we take down all of David Lowery’s catalogue,” claimed Spotify’s Steve Savoca in an email to Universal Music execs about the takedown that has since leaked.
“There is a dispute over publishing rights and while we are working to resolve it we are being prudent and taking down his catalogue.”
However, Lowery’s lawyer Mona Hannah has challenged Savoca’s claim.
“In fact, what the letter requested was ‘we hereby confirm Mr. Lowery’s demand that Spotify remove from its platform those songs by Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven for which Spotify has failed to secure the required mechanical licenses relating to those musical compositions’,” she told Digital Music News.
“So, to me it appears that the take down of all the songs is either an admission by Spotify it did not have the proper license to play those songs, or I would have to conclude that it was, in fact, retaliatory.”
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