Remember a while back about the ways in which SoundCloud was about to become unpopular? Well, it looks like you can add another one to that list. The U.K.-based performing rights organization PRS For Music has announced that they’re launching a lawsuit against SoundCloud for streaming their catalog without compensation. In an official statement, PRS said that they’ve been trying to negotiate the issue with SoundCloud for five years, and that they’ve finally come to the point where legal action has to be taken.
The statement goes on to explain the details of the problem, saying, “When a writer or publisher becomes a member of the Performing Right Society, they assign certain rights to their works over for us to administer, so it’s our job to ensure we collect and distribute royalties due to them. SoundCloud actively promotes and shares music. Launched in 2008, the service now has more than 175m unique listeners per month. Unfortunately, the organisation continues to deny it needs a PRS for Music licence for its existing service available in the UK and Europe, meaning it is not remunerating our members when their music is streamed by the SoundCloud platform.”
PRS says there are at least 4,500 of their tracks on SoundCloud, who has responded to these claims by taking down a mere 250 of them.
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