Roblox facing $200m lawsuit from music publishers

Games platform Roblox is being sued for $200 million in a new lawsuit filed by The National Music Publishers’ Association.

As reported by Variety, the lawsuit accuses Roblox of “illegally” using songs by popular artists on the platform without consent from the copyright holders.

The NMPA claims that tracks from artists such as Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran and The Rolling Stones, among others, require compensation for their use inside Roblox.

In the filing, NMPA president David Israelite commented on how the platform is making “hundreds of millions of dollars by requiring users to pay every time they upload music onto the platform — taking advantage of young people’s lack of understanding about copyright — and then they take virtually no action to prevent repeat infringement or alert users to the risks they are taking”.

The suit is seeking damages caused by “Roblox’s unabashed exploitation of music without proper licenses.”

In Q1 2024, Roblox reported revenues up 140% to $387 million, but also reported net losses of $134 million.

The company also went public via direct listing earlier this year. Back in March, the company closed its first day of trading with a $38 billion market cap.

Roblox is also currently under scrutiny by watchgroup ParentsTogether, calling on the platform to “stop baiting children into outrageous spending.”