What’s at Stake in the Dismissal of Wixen’s Lawsuit Against Meta — And Why It Refiled Its Complaint (Guest Column)
Categoria: Musica
Meta will soon have to face the only question that matters: whether it can use songwriters' work without paying for it.
Por Billboard | 03/11/2026
Our songwriting clients write the music that soundtracks many of Meta’s Instagram and Facebook Reels. Meta licensed our clients’ music for seven years, from 2018 until 2025. Then it decided it would pay only a small fraction of what it had been paying for the same music. We said no. Meta kept using the music anyway. No license and no payment. It also started pulling our clients’ songs down while they were still under license, then told songwriters and their managers that we were the ones who took them down. That’s why we filed suit , and it’s why so much of our clients’ music is no longer up on Meta’s platforms. Related Music Publisher Wixen Sues Meta, Says It Plans To Replace Human Songwriters With AI Music Kenny MacPherson, Veteran Music Publisher and Big Deal Music Co-Founder, Dies at 71 Diddy Moved From New Jersey Prison to Similar Facility in Pennsylvania Nobody wanted that outcome, least of all songwriters whose fans live on Instagram. But to us, Meta’s message was clear: It does not value the music that helped build its platforms. We do. Meta’s first move in court: try to get the case thrown out before anyone has to answer for anything. Earlier this month, the judge ruled on that motion, and the headlines said he “tossed” our suit. He didn’t. Here’s what actually happened. Meta’s motion never claimed it had a license. It never claimed it wasn’t using the songs. It argued about whose name is on the paperwork, and on that, the judge asked us to spell out, song by song, whether Wixen owns each work or is its exclusive licensee, and which rights we hold. That’s a pleading exercise. We did the same thing in our earlier 2020 case against Triller. That case went forward, and the judge cited it in his order. He gave us two weeks to refile, and we did. Our claims over Meta pulling songs down mid-license and blaming us for it were left alone. The trial date is still on the calendar. Discovery is underway, and we expect it to turn up even more of our clients’ music used without a license. Under a much-criticized Ninth Circuit rule from prior copyright infringement cases — a rule which now covers California — a publishing administrator must exclusively control 100% of a song to bring a claim. This is out of step with every other court that has looked at the question. We conceded that prior ruling in our briefs and kept those partially controlled songs in the case so we can take it up on appeal. Related Supreme Court Won’t Overturn Landmark Music Copyright Termination Ruling Think about what the rule means: If a song has two co-writers with two different publishing administrators, Meta can use it for free, and neither publisher can stop it. Most songs are co-written. In our lawyers’ words, the ruling does not diminish our case in any way. Meta got a tw