Spotify agrees to unlist over 1 lakh songs owned by Saregama

Global audio giant, Spotify, has agreed to remove over 1 lakh songs owned by Indian music company Saregama from its streaming platform. Launched in India in February this year, Spotify was challenged in the Delhi High Court for allegedly violating the Intellectual Property rights of Saregama by posting their content without a license agreement. 

In the hearing on April 23, Sajan Poovayya, counsel for Saregama, India’s oldest music label, told the HC that the company had agreed to partner up with Spotify for its India launch and even handed over copyrights for their music. However, the deal could not be finalized and Saregama requested Spotify to block its content on their app. 

In response to this, Spotify told the apex court that they did not consider the litigation as an adversarial one. It added that the platform was willing to unlist all Saregama content within 10 days of the court order. 

Spotify had faced a similar situation in February when music label WMG filed for an injunction in the Bombay High Court over licensing rights.