Spotify To Remove India’s Saregama Catalog Amid Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

INDIA (CelebrityAccess) – Global music streaming giant Spotify has agreed to remove all works belonging to India’s oldest record label, Saregama, from its platform within the next 10 days.

The decision follows a copyright infringement suit against Spotify brought by Saregama and heard by Delhi’s High Court.

In the lawsuit, which is available for viewing here, Saregama claims that, although it entered into negotiations with Spotify for a copyright license and permitted Spotify to upload its content a month ahead of the platform’s launch in India, the two parties never actually finalized their deal.

Subsequently, Saregama, alleges that it requested Spotify block all of its work on the app, however, the streaming platform had not complied until now.

Established in 1901, Saregama is India’s oldest record label and music publishing company. With a catalog that generated over a billion streams worldwide in calendar Q4 last year, according to MBW, the firm began operations as a branch of EMI, later becoming The Gramophone Company. Today it is owned by RPG Group.

Spotify launched in India on February 27, and has since welcomed millions of regional users to its platform.

The court noted that Spotify will be bound by its statement to take down the content. A hearing is scheduled for May 5.