Sony Music Sues Cosmetic Brand Over Unauthorized Music in Instagram and TikTok Ads

I’ve always maintained how understanding music rights can be important for businesses or brands especially going by the proliferation of content creation on social media. Paying little to no attention to this can cause issues, as we often see on social media how brands freely use artists’ music for seemingly commercial purposes.

While we’ve not seen much of such [lawsuits] in Nigeria, it’s imminent and brands will have to brace up for what would become a new development.

Sony Music has taken legal action against a cosmetic brand called OFRA for unauthorized use of its music in advertisements on Instagram and TikTok. The lawsuit alleges that OFRA Cosmetics has gained social media popularity by repeatedly and knowingly infringing upon the copyrights of numerous content owners, including hundreds of sound recordings owned by Sony Music.

Sony Music claims that OFRA Cosmetics consistently takes advantage of videos containing unlicensed sound recordings and musical compositions that belong to record labels and music publishing companies. The lawsuit specifically mentions that at least 329 videos on OFRA's pages feature Sony Music's sound recordings, including popular songs like Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You," Britney Spears' "Oops!...I Did It Again," Beyonce ft Jay Z's "Crazy In Love," and Harry Styles' "As It Was". Sony also mentions there are even more infringing videos that are yet to be identified.

Sony further points out that OFRA Cosmetics has employed a marketing strategy centered around the use of these videos to promote its products for several years, and while they notified OFRA about its supposed copyright infringement last year, the cosmetics company has been unresponsive.

Sony Music has a history of initiating legal action against consumer brands for copyright infringement related to the use of its music in social media posts. In July 2021, Sony Music filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Gymshark, a UK-based fitness apparel brand. However, both parties reached a friendly settlement in January 2022.

Thing is, such copyright infringement lawsuits are not uncommon in the music industry and can even pose as a revenue source for music companies. For instance, $75 million out of UMG’s $3 billion Q3 revenue stemmed from the settlement of a copyright infringement lawsuit involving an internet service provider.