It’s important to remember that David Lowery could have just sued Spotify over his own catalog.  He didn’t do that.  He brought a class action for the good of all songwriters who get overlooked and disrespected by Spotify and that’s a lot of people.  I don’t know Melissa Ferrick, but I would bet the same could be said of her.

The plaintiff who can’t be bought off is a defendant’s worst nightmare.  This is particularly true in David’s case because in addition to whatever money damages the class may be awarded, David is also asking for an injunction to require Spotify to bring in an independent third party compliance examiner to fix Spotify’s massive failure to identify copyright owners.

That injunction is probably more fear-inducing than whatever the payment might be, because that will once and for all fix the problem and eliminate the slush fund–or force Spotify to stop exploiting uncleared tracks.  Make no mistake–unpaid royalties are a source of interest-free loans.

Why do I think that Spotify is most afraid of someone they don’t control getting inside the company and looking under the hood?

Read the rest David Lowery is Spotify’s Worst Nightmare from Music Tech Policy