Musk's X, major labels end dispute over music on social-media platform

July 17 (Reuters) - A group of major music publishers including Universal Music Group and Sony Music have agreed to end ‌a legal dispute with Elon Musk's X Corp over the use ‌of their music on the X social-media platform, according to federal court filings.

X Corp and the ​music labels asked a Tennessee federal court on Thursday to dismiss the labels' lawsuit that accused X of infringing hundreds of their copyrights by allowing its users to post their songs without a license. They also asked a Texas federal ‌court to dismiss a countersuit ⁠X had filed that accused the labels of conspiring to block competition and forcing the platform to license their songs ⁠at inflated rates.

Spokespeople for X Corp, the labels and their trade group the National Music Publishers Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment and more ​information, including ​whether their dispute was settled. The filings ​asked the courts to dismiss ‌the claims with prejudice, which means they cannot be refiled.

A group of 17 music publishers sued X in Nashville, Tennessee in 2023, seeking more than $250 million in damages for the alleged infringement of nearly 1,700 copyrights. The lawsuit said that X "routinely ignores" users' copyright infringement and that other major platforms like TikTok, ‌Facebook and YouTube properly license music from ​the publishers.

X convinced the court to dismiss much ​of the lawsuit in 2024. ​U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger said that X could not ‌be held liable for direct or ​vicarious copyright infringement, but ​allowed part of the labels' contributory infringement claim to continue.

X countersued the publishers in Texas in January, accusing them of violating federal antitrust ​law by refusing to ‌negotiate individual licensing deals. The publishers told the court in April that ​the case should be dismissed.

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington, ​Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Nick Zieminski)