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David Lowery has become one of Spotify‘s most outspoken critics and now, he’s ready for the music streaming service to pay up.

The musician has filed a whopping $150 million lawsuit against Spotify, alleging the company has infringed on music copyrights by failing to properly pay royalties. Basically, Lowery believes that the popular service is not paying songwriters what they’re owed and they’ve known it all along.

Mashable reports: The lawsuit states that Spotify “has publicly admitted its failures to obtain licenses for the musical works it distributes or reproduces or to pay royalties to copyright owners.” The timing is interesting, as just last week Spotify announced that it would be building a new music database to manage royalties. The system would ensure that Spotify properly tracked all material on its platform and made the required payments.

Unfortunately, the new database is too little too late for Lowery, who continues to move forward with his lawsuit and is looking to gain class-action status – the ability to file on behalf of other artists.

In a statement, Spotify’s head of public policy objected to the copyright infringement allegations:

“We are committed to paying songwriters and publishers every penny,” he said. “Unfortunately, especially in the United States, the data necessary to confirm the appropriate rightsholders is often missing, wrong, or incomplete. When rightsholders are not immediately clear, we set aside the royalties we owe until we are able to confirm their identities.”

Lowery is far from the first artist to speak out against Spotify. Taylor Swift notably pulled her music from the service in 2014.

SOURCE: Mashable | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

Spotify Is Being Sued For $150 Million, Accused Of Ripping Off Artists  was originally published on globalgrind.com