The publishing company that controls Eminem’s early music catalog is suing Meta for over $109 million.
On May 30, Eight Mile Style filed a lawsuit against the social media giant in U.S. District Court in Michigan, accusing Meta of using 243 of Eminem’s songs across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp without authorization. Eminem is not listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
“Despite their not being licensed, the recordings of the Eight Mile Compositions have been reproduced and synchronized with visual content on Meta’s platforms across millions of videos, which have been viewed billions of times,” the lawsuit reads.
“Meta has also created online tools within their services, such as Original Audio and Reels Remix, which allow and encourage its users to steal Eight Mile Style’s music from another user’s posted audiovisual content and then use it in their own subsequent videos without proper attribution or license, resulting in exponential infringement,” the filing continues.
The 243 songs listed in the lawsuit include Shady hits like “’Til I Collapse,” “Lose Yourself,” “The Real Slim Shady,” “Mockingbird,” “The Way I Am,” and dozens of other tracks from or featuring Em. EMS is seeking $150,000 for each infraction on each platform (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp), totaling $109,350,000.
Eminem has released the following statement to XXL regarding 8 Mile Style’s lawsuit against Meta: “8 Mile Style is a publishing company that administers my early catalog releases. The Meta lawsuit came from them, not me. I’m not personally involved with it and I am not a party to the suit.”