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Aimee Mann drops MediaNet lawsuit
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 12 February 2015
Aimee Mann has dropped the lawsuit she brought against digital music provider MediaNet way back in 2013, having reached an agreement over the licensing of her music via the company.
As previously reported, MediaNet began life as MusicNet with ambitions to become a consumer-facing download store way back in 2001 as a joint venture between EMI and the original BMG, when the majors were still hoping to control a then emerging digital music market.
After failing to capture the consumer market, thanks chiefly to the arrival of iTunes, the company switched to providing music (and subsequently other digital content) to other online businesses, making it an early (and for a time significant) player in a sector now dominated by 7digital and Omnifone.
Though, but for this lawsuit, the company has had a much lower profile in more recent years. Its website still lists amongst its client base Turntable.fm, Microsoft’s Zune, and MOG. Yes, I was as impressed as you.
Mann’s lawsuit related to an agreement she made with the company in 2003, which she said she had terminated in 2006. In 2013 she alleged that, despite the 2006 termination, MediaNet continued to distribute her work without a licence and had also failed to pay her any royalties. MediaNet denied that it had distributed her music without licence or that it had not paid her any royalties, but did remove Mann’s music from its system while the dispute was ongoing.
It’s OK though, everyone’s friends again now, with the two sides reaching an agreement over how Mann’s music should be licensed on the service.
In a statement that reads like it was written by a lawyer (or more likely several lawyers), Mann told Billboard: “MediaNet and I have resolved our differences, and I feel confident that they are making every effort to license their content correctly in a way that protects the rights of artists and songwriters. I’ve therefore agreed to put my music back on their service”.
MediaNet CEO Frank Johnson added: “Music rights are at the heart of our business, and we take the proper tracking and royalty payments to copyright holders very seriously”.
So that’s a happy ending, isn’t it? And now I’m off to fill my Zune with Aimee Mann albums, and maybe DJ a few tracks on Turntable.fm too.
