Eight Mile Style, the company holding the rights to some of hip-hop legend Eminem’s most recognizable tracks, has launched a formidable lawsuit against social media titan Meta. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Michigan, accuses the Menlo Park-based tech giant of widespread copyright infringement, seeking a staggering at least $109 million in damages and a court order to halt the alleged illicit use of Eminem's music.
At the heart of the dispute is the pervasive integration of music into social media content. On Meta's dominant platforms, Facebook and Instagram, users routinely incorporate music into their photos and videos, sharing them globally. However, this seamless integration, while changing how music is discovered, has ignited long-standing concerns among artists regarding fair compensation for their creative works.
Eight Mile Style, based in Ferndale, Mich., alleges that Meta has been "storing, reproducing and distributing Eminem’s music without obtaining the license to do so." The lawsuit sharply criticizes Meta, stating it is "another case of a trillion (with a ‘T’) dollar company exploiting the creative efforts of musical artists for the obscene monetary benefit of its executives and shareholders without a license and without regard to the rights of the owners of the intellectual property.” The firm owns and controls 243 compositions recorded by Eminem, including global anthems like “Lose Yourself.” While Meta did remove some of these directly from its music libraries, the lawsuit contends that other versions, such as piano instrumentals and karaoke renditions, persist, continuing the alleged infringement. The lawsuit further claims that Meta not only permitted users to upload these songs but actively stored and reproduced them in its libraries, enabling millions of user-generated videos, viewed billions of times, to feature Eminem's music without proper authorization.
Meta, in its defense, stated it holds licenses with thousands of global partners and operates an "extensive" licensing program for music on its platforms. The company expressed disappointment, asserting that “Meta had been negotiating in good faith with Eight Mile Style, but rather than continue those discussions, Eight Mile Style chose to sue.” The lawsuit, however, counters that Meta even unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a license for Eminem’s songs through Audiam, a digital music royalty company that lacked the authority to grant such a license for Eight Mile Style's catalog.
The legal document further escalates the accusation, claiming that "Meta executives have actively encouraged such rampant infringement in order to attract as many users as possible to, among other things, make advertising on their services more profitable for themselves." With over 3 billion daily users across its apps and quarterly revenues soaring into the tens of billions (reaching $42.31 billion in the first three months of this year alone, with net income jumping 35% to $16.6 billion), the stakes are incredibly high.
This isn't Meta's first encounter with Eight Mile Style over Eminem's music. A similar lawsuit was filed in 2013 against Facebook, alleging the unauthorized use of the song “Under the Influence” in an advertisement. This renewed legal battle underscores the persistent tension between tech giants leveraging user-generated content and artists striving to protect their intellectual property and ensure equitable compensation in the digital economy. The outcome of this case could set a significant precedent for copyright enforcement in the vast and rapidly evolving landscape of social media.
