Major record label Sony Music issued a lawsuit against USC for using over 170 of their songs in athletics promotional videos on Tuesday. In the 283 cited videos, USC failed to get proper sync licensing for the label’s songs across 30 of their social media pages.
Sony Music Entertainment owns about 18 other record labels, including Columbia and Alamo Records. These larger labels within Sony Music Entertainment are the parent company to many more labels.
The lawsuit alleged that USC has used songs such as “As It Was” by Harry Styles, “Run the World (Girls)” by Beyoncé, “Beat It” by Michael Jackson and “Back in Black” by AC/DC without commercial rights. They said that USC has also used charting songs such as “Like That” by Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar, which debuted at #1 on Billboard Hot 100.
A synchronization (sync) license would give USC permission to use the song in exchange for a negotiated fee. The label would also have the right to bar USC from using their music for promotion. In the music world, licenses are an absolute necessity for artists and other song contributors to monetize in their work. Certain licenses pay copyright holders of the composition and master recordings– these holders tend to be songwriters, composers, publishers and the label.
Madi Ingrassia, a senior music industry major and legal studies minor, who also holds the position of Executive Director of USC Concerts Committee is currently applying for law school and hopes to represent artists in her career. Ingrassia said that the Concerts Committee typically operates under fair use licenses, because they are using the songs in an educational context.
“When it comes to NIL [names, images and likeness] where they’re actually making money, and there’s all these brand deals and all of that stuff for the artists, or for the athletes– that kind of changes things. It makes it more commercial and less academic,” said Ingrassia. “I think that Sony is entitled to their artists’ rights. It’s their song.”
Ingrassia says that it’s not uncommon for entities – like USC – to run the risk of not getting licenses. Licensing songs can be difficult as it requires the consent of all contributors to the sound recording and composition.
The issue? None of the social media accounts owned by USC are the personal accounts of students or faculty. When brands like USC Athletics have their own social media accounts, every video is considered promotional, as it drives activity to ticket sales and other commercial campaigns.
“USC’s conduct has caused and continues to cause irreparable and substantial harm to Sony Music, while enriching USC at the expense of Sony Music and its artists,” Sony Music said in the lawsuit.
The university said in a statement to Annenberg Media that “USC respects the intellectual property rights of others and will respond to these allegations in court.”
Joe Poindexter, an adjunct professor at USC and Chief Communications Officer at Pulse Music Group, discussed Sony’s lawsuit against USC for using copyrighted songs in 283 videos without permission. Sony is seeking $150,000 per song, totaling nearly $40 million.
Poindexter explained the need for synchronization licenses for using copyrighted music in videos, contrasting it with mechanical licenses for cover songs.
“There is no issue with you releasing cover songs of Michael Jackson [songs], or a Kendrick Lamar song. There’s no problem with that,” he said. “It’s more about when you’re taking a master recording and you’re synchronizing it with something that is not the artist that originally recorded that song, you need to receive permission to do that.”
He emphasized that USC’s issue stemmed from not obtaining these licenses. Poindexter also clarified that user-generated content (UGC) on platforms like TikTok doesn’t require permission as the sound is already distributed by the platform.
In addition to $150,000 per song, Sony is also demanding a declaration that USC “wilfully infringed” the company’s copyrighted sound recordings, a full accounting of the university’s “profits, gains, advantages and the value of the business opportunities received,” as a result of using the music and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.