X and music publishers end licensing lawsuits with dismissals in Tennessee and Texas
Music Business Worldwide reported that X Corp and a group of music publishers ended their legal fight over music licensing. The parties filed joint stipulations of dismissal on July 16 in two U.S. federal courts. The publishers' copyright infringement suit against X was dismissed in the Middle District of Tennessee, while X's antitrust suit against the publishers and the National Music Publishers' Association was dismissed in the Northern District of Texas. Both dismissals were with prejudice, with each side covering its own costs, expenses and attorneys' fees. The stipulations did not reveal settlement terms or say whether X agreed to license music from the publishers.
THE BREAKDOWN
The lack of disclosed terms leaves creators and music teams with a practical problem: platform music rights on X remain hard to read from the outside. Agents should keep music usage warranties tight in branded social contracts and avoid promising that a track is cleared for every platform without written confirmation. Music managers should ask whether sponsored posts on X require separate clearance from TikTok, Instagram or YouTube packages. Brand managers should treat X music use as a separate rights review until licensing terms become public. If a creator campaign depends on a song, the contract should assign responsibility for takedowns, replacements and makegoods.
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