"They could fix this problem. One of their talented software engineers could stop this fraudulent practice in its tracks, if they had the will to do so."
Spotify is going to get its ass sued into oblivion. Music estates, RIAA, and record companies do not fuck around.
The analogy that you have provided though would imply that all websites should be responsible for their users actions. That would allow people to completely bankrupt any website by uploading a bunch of Disney movies.
This is already true, though. Why do you think you can’t just hop on YouTube and access pirated Disney movies right now? Because YouTube doesn’t want to be bankrupted, so they actively disallow it and take them down.
YouTube is not responsible for their users actions. If the uploader decides to appeal the takedown, the uploader goes to court not YouTube.
In the analogy, what you’ve described would be the equivalent of the person finding out their brother was running a meth lab and kicking them out without consulting law enforcement.
If law enforcement found the methlab, the person and their brother would be held liable. If Disney found The Lion King on YouTube, the uploaded is held liable. Making YouTube (or any website) legally liable for their uploaders content would put a lot of websites in jeopardy. Safe harbor provisions are the entire reason YouTube still exists today, as Viacom tried to take them down back in 2009, but youtube was able to prove they had no action to know or stop the uploaders from uploading Viacom’s content. Shortly after that case is when they introduced the ContentID system and Google gobbled them up.
This is already true, though. Why do you think you can’t just hop on YouTube and access pirated Disney movies right now? Because YouTube doesn’t want to be bankrupted, so they actively disallow it and take them down.
YouTube is not responsible for their users actions. If the uploader decides to appeal the takedown, the uploader goes to court not YouTube.
In the analogy, what you’ve described would be the equivalent of the person finding out their brother was running a meth lab and kicking them out without consulting law enforcement.
If law enforcement found the methlab, the person and their brother would be held liable. If Disney found The Lion King on YouTube, the uploaded is held liable. Making YouTube (or any website) legally liable for their uploaders content would put a lot of websites in jeopardy. Safe harbor provisions are the entire reason YouTube still exists today, as Viacom tried to take them down back in 2009, but youtube was able to prove they had no action to know or stop the uploaders from uploading Viacom’s content. Shortly after that case is when they introduced the ContentID system and Google gobbled them up.