Music Publisher Wixen Sues Meta, Claiming Brazen Tactics to Replace Songwriters with AI

The publisher says Meta has been strong-arming the publisher to take incredibly low royalties

Wixen, a publisher that represents prominent artists such as Weezer and The Black Keys, is suing Meta. The suit claims that Meta is attempting to “drastically cut payments to human songwriters” in an effort to flood the platform with free AI music.

The details:

Wixen has stated that in recent licensing negotiations, Meta attempted to cut royalty rates significantly for songs that were previously available on its platforms.
The suit also claims that in response to Wixen disputing the new proposed agreement, Meta removed songs from the platform even though the current agreement was still active.
That was allegedly an attempt to damage Wixen’s reputation. Furthermore, when artists broached the removal with Meta, the complaint alleges that Meta lied to the artists and blamed Wixen.
This led to artists leaving Wixen so their music would be restored on Meta platforms. Meta then removed those tracks anyway, and once again blamed Wixen.
In the thick of the lawsuit, the licensing negotiations have ended, but Wixen claims Meta is still using its tracks without permission.
The technical accusations are, according to Billboard, “copyright infringement, defamation, trade libel, and illegal interference with Wixen’s contractual relationship with its clients.”
Wixen’s latest deal with Meta was signed in 2018 and set to expire in 2025.

What they said:

Wixen CEO, Jason Rys: “Music has been and remains an intrinsic part of the success of Instagram, Facebook, and other Meta platforms. That Meta would prefer to infringe original music while training their own AI-generated music shows their true colors. Wixen is standing up for the rights of human songwriters and artists.”

The details:

Wixen has stated that in recent licensing negotiations, Meta attempted to cut royalty rates significantly for songs that were previously available on its platforms.
The suit also claims that in response to Wixen disputing the new proposed agreement, Meta removed songs from the platform even though the current agreement was still active.
That was allegedly an attempt to damage Wixen’s reputation. Furthermore, when artists broached the removal with Meta, the complaint alleges that Meta lied to the artists and blamed Wixen.
This led to artists leaving Wixen so their music would be restored on Meta platforms. Meta then removed those tracks anyway, and once again blamed Wixen.
In the thick of the lawsuit, the licensing negotiations have ended, but Wixen claims Meta is still using its tracks without permission.
The technical accusations are, according to Billboard, “copyright infringement, defamation, trade libel, and illegal interference with Wixen’s contractual relationship with its clients.”
Wixen’s latest deal with Meta was signed in 2018 and set to expire in 2025.

What they said:

Wixen CEO, Jason Rys: “Music has been and remains an intrinsic part of the success of Instagram, Facebook, and other Meta platforms. That Meta would prefer to infringe original music while training their own AI-generated music shows their true colors. Wixen is standing up for the rights of human songwriters and artists.”

The details:

Wixen has stated that in recent licensing negotiations, Meta attempted to cut royalty rates significantly for songs that were previously available on its platforms.
The suit also claims that in response to Wixen disputing the new proposed agreement, Meta removed songs from the platform even though the current agreement was still active.
That was allegedly an attempt to damage Wixen’s reputation. Furthermore, when artists broached the removal with Meta, the complaint alleges that Meta lied to the artists and blamed Wixen.
This led to artists leaving Wixen so their music would be restored on Meta platforms. Meta then removed those tracks anyway, and once again blamed Wixen.
In the thick of the lawsuit, the licensing negotiations have ended, but Wixen claims Meta is still using its tracks without permission.
The technical accusations are, according to Billboard, “copyright infringement, defamation, trade libel, and illegal interference with Wixen’s contractual relationship with its clients.”
Wixen’s latest deal with Meta was signed in 2018 and set to expire in 2025.

What they said:

Wixen CEO, Jason Rys: “Music has been and remains an intrinsic part of the success of Instagram, Facebook, and other Meta platforms. That Meta would prefer to infringe original music while training their own AI-generated music shows their true colors. Wixen is standing up for the rights of human songwriters and artists.”

👋 Disclosures & Transparency Block

This article was written with information sourced from Billboard.
We covered it because it represents the ongoing tension between AI and the music industry.