Kobalt Music has sued a stack of NBA basketball teams in the US over allegations they have used music in promotional posts on social media without getting the required licences. That includes songs controlled by Kobalt and various independent music publishers that it works with, including Artist Publishing Group, MXM Music and Prescription Songs.
Each team has been sued separately, though the lawsuits all follow the same template. Each filing insists that the targeted team is “acutely aware” of how intellectual property law works, illustrating that point by listing the trademarks and copyrights the team itself has registered.
The lawsuits then claim that each targeted team “utilises the full extent of legal protections available for its own intellectual property while simultaneously knowingly and willfully infringing on the property rights” of the music companies.
Among the basketball teams being sued are the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs.
The lawsuits all name a couple of artists whose music is controlled by Kobalt and the other publishers and who come from the same state as each team. John Legend gets name-checked in the Cleveland Cavaliers lawsuit, Jay-Z and Cardi B in the case against the New York Knicks, and Meek Mill in the Philadelphia 76ers filing.
Each team “dedicates substantial effort to its social media presence” on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube and TikTok, the lawsuits state. As part of their respective social media marketing campaigns, each team has exploited the publishers’ copyrights “by synchronising their works with the videos which are intended to promote defendants’ commercial activities” and then posting those videos to a “variety of consumer-facing platforms”.
Crucially, defendants did not obtain from the publishers a “licence, authorisation or consent to synchronise the works with the videos”. To that end, Kobalt wants every team held liable for copyright infringement and ordered to hand over lots of damages.
Most of the social media platforms used by the basketball teams have their own music licences, however, those only cover user-generated content. When brands use music in videos on social media, they either have to select tracks that the platforms have specifically licensed for brand use - such as those in TikTok’s Commercial Music Library - or they need to negotiate bespoke sync licences with the relevant record labels or music publishers.
There have been a number of lawsuits against brands that have used unlicensed music in social media posts in recent years. Most have been filed by the major record companies, although earlier this month the Beastie Boys sued the Chili’s restaurant chain via their own company, and now we have this case being led by a group of independent publishers.