Universal Music Group is suing TuneCore and its parent company Believe for $500MUniversal Music Group (UMG) – as well as ABKCO Music & Records and Concord Music Group – are suing TuneCore and its parent company Believe for $500 million, alleging that Believe’s business model operates on “industrial-scale copyright infringement” of “the world’s most popular copyrighted recordings”.
Per Music Business Worldwide, UMG, ABKCO and Concord accuse Believe of distributing “overtly infringing versions of original tracks by famous artists with notations that they are ‘sped up’ or ‘remixed’.

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They say Believe has enjoyed significant growth by distributing unauthorised versions of copyrighted recordings to platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Spotify, Apple Music and Instagram.
“Believe is a company built on industrial-scale copyright infringement,” says a spokesperson for UMG. “Their illegal practices are not limited to cheating artists on major labels but artists on independent labels as well – including artists on the independent labels within the trade bodies of which Believe is itself a member.”
The lawsuit cites examples of “sped up” or “remixed” versions of recordings by the likes of ABBA, Ariana Grande, Beastie Boys, Bon Jovi, Daddy Yankee, Drake, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Nirvana and the Rolling Stones.
“While Believe is fully aware that its business model is fuelled by rampant piracy, it has eschewed basic measures to prevent copyright violations and turned a blind eye to the fact that its music catalogue was rife with copyright infringing sound recordings,” the lawsuit later states.
Elsewhere, UMG, ABKCO and Concord accuse Believe of manipulating YouTube’s Content ID system – which flags instances of copyright infringement – “to claim ownership of the copyrights in the recordings embodied in the tracks it distributes, and uses those systems to monetise uses of those recordings”.
It says Believe, even after losing disputes on YouTube, continues to distribute the same illegal tracks on other platforms.
“It’s no wonder that Believe has been outspoken against the streaming reform principles for which so many major and independent labels have been advocating. Why? Because such reforms would undermine and expose their system of building scale and market presence by distributing music for which they have no rights and illegally collecting royalties to enrich themselves and their co-conspirators,” UMG says.
The suit goes on: “As the distributor of these tracks, Believe had specific knowledge of infringement or, at minimum, was actually aware of facts indicating a high likelihood of infringement, but continued to distribute and purport to licence the same tracks to other services, continuing to violate Plaintiffs’ copyrights and to divert royalties that ought to have flowed to Plaintiffs.”
Take a look at the lawsuit – which has been filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York – at Music Business Worldwide.
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