Believe And TuneCore Respond To UMG, ABCKO, And Concord's 'Copyright Infingement' Lawsuit

French music company Believe and its TuneCore subsidiary have responded to a lawsuit filed this week by Universal Music Group, ABCKO Music & Records, and Concord Music Group which alleges the company partakes in "industrial-scale copyright infringement".

The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, November 4th has seen Believe accused by the plaintiffs of being “overrun with fraudulent ‘artists’ and pirate record labels” and distributing those fraudulent recordings to streaming services and social media platforms.

According to lawyers, Believe has made "little effort to hide its illegal actions", which has resulted in numerous recordings being uploaded to the likes of Spotify with the intent of being mistakenly streamed by listeners.

These songs, which are ofted sped-up or remixed versions of other songs, are put out into the world under deliberately mispelled monikers from established artists, such as "Kendrik Laamar" or "Llady Gaga".

“Believe is a company built on industrial-scale copyright infringement,” a UMG spokesperson said in a statement. “Their illegal practices are not limited to cheating artists on major labels but artists on independent labels as well — including artists on the independent labels within the trade bodies of which Believe is itself a member.

“It’s no wonder that Believe has been outspoken against the streaming reform principles for which so many major and independent labels have been advocating. Why? Because such reforms would undermine and expose their system of building scale and market presence by distributing music for which they have no rights and illegally collecting royalties to enrich themselves and their co-conspirators.”

In a statement released today, Believe have reaffirmed their commitment to respecting copyright, and denied the claims made by UMG and the other co-plaintiffs.

"Believe and TuneCore do not comment on pending litigation,” the statement began. “As companies that work with artists and labels around the world, we take the respect of copyright very seriously. We strongly refute these claims, and the statements made by Universal Music Group and will fight them.

"We have developed robust tools and processes to tackle this industrywide challenge, working collaboratively with partners and peers and will continue to do so.

"We have been at the forefront of the digital music ecosystem for nearly 20 years, supporting the development of independent artists and labels, and have been awarded Tier 1 status and included in the Preferred Partner Program across all music stores,” they added.

No further statements have been made by UMG, ABCKO, or Concord Music Group at the current time.