RBX, a founding father of West Coast Hip-Hop, Files a Class Action Lawsuit Against Spotify Concerning Alleged Streaming Fraud

Today, the nationally recognized law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C. alongside Irpino Avin & Hawkins, filed a class action lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles on behalf of musician and hip-hop producer Eric Dwayne Collins, professionally known as RBX, against Spotify.  The lawsuit asserts that, for years, the company failed to properly address streaming fraud on its platform.

According to the lawsuit, “streaming fraud is carried out by deploying ‘Bots,’ which are automated software programs that run scripts to perform repetitive tasks on the internet at high speeds. In the context of streaming fraud, large numbers of Bots are programmed to repeatedly and continuously stream certain songs, thereby fraudulently inflating the total number of streams for that music.”  Among other things, the suit asserts that “billions of fraudulent streams have been generated with respect to songs of ‘the most streamed artist of all time,’ Aubrey Drake Graham, professionally known as Drake (“Drake”).”

The lawsuit explains that musicians, songwriters and others are paid “on a monthly basis, based on their proportional share of total music streams for that month.”  “Given the way Spotify pays royalty holders, allocating a limited pool of money based on each song’s proportional share of streams for a particular period, if someone cheats the system, fraudulently inflating their streams, it takes from everyone else,” said Baron & Budd Shareholder Mark Pifko, attorney for the Plaintiff.  As asserted in the complaint, “[a]ny time a Rights Holder’s share of the revenue pool increases due to increased music streams, the shares for other Rights Holders necessarily decrease.”

The lawsuit alleges that although streaming fraud is prohibited by Spotify and the company claims that it has policies and procedures in place to address streaming fraud, “Spotify has an incentive for turning a blind eye to the blatant streaming fraud occurring on its service.”  According to the lawsuit, “[t]he more users (including fake users) Spotify has, the more advertisements it can sell, the more profits the company can report, all of which serves to increase the purported value delivered to shareholders.”  The lawsuit further alleges, “Spotify offers a free, ad-supported version of its streaming service, which does not require the use of a valid credit card to sign up. This creates the ideal conditions for fraudulent Bot Accounts to create fake Spotify accounts.”

In the lawsuit, Plaintiff Eric Dwayne Collins, who performs under the name RBX, seeks to represent a class of other artists in California and the United States who earn money from royalties on Spotify.  “Not everyone who makes a living in the music business is a household name like Taylor Swift — there are thousands of songwriters, performers, and producers who earn revenue from music streaming who you’ve never heard of.  These people are the backbone of the music business and this case is about them,” Mr. Pifko added.  The complaint seeks monetary damages, injunctive relief and restitution from Spotify.

About Baron & Budd, P.C.

With more than 40 years of experience, Baron & Budd has the expertise and resources to handle complex litigation throughout the United States. As a law firm that takes pride in remaining at the forefront of litigation, Baron & Budd has spearheaded many significant cases for hundreds of public entities and tens of thousands of individuals. Since the firm was founded in 1977, Baron & Budd has achieved substantial national acclaim for its work on cutting-edge litigation, trying hundreds of cases to verdict and settling tens of thousands of cases in areas of litigation as diverse and significant as dangerous and highly addictive pharmaceuticals, defective medical devices, asbestos and mesothelioma, wildfires, environmental contamination, fraudulent banking practices, e-cigarettes, motor vehicles, federal whistleblower cases, and other consumer fraud issues.