Wixen Music Publishing is suing Meta for copyright infringement, claiming the social media giant continues to use hundreds of its copyrighted songs on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp without permission.
The lawsuit, filed in California federal court last Thursday (January 23), claims Meta has “willfully” infringed the copyrights of over 330 musical works – including songs by The Doors, Weezer, Styx, The Black Keys, Missy Elliott and Townes Van Zandt – after the companies’ licensing agreement expired on December 10, 2025.
Los Angeles-based Wixen is seeking at least $49.65 million in statutory damages, plus additional compensation for claims of defamation and interference with its business relationships.
The complaint, which you can read in full here, alleges that Meta continues to make Wixen’s catalog available in its Music Library for users to add to Reels videos and other content, “resulting in thousands of audiovisual works incorporating [songs] without authorization or compensation”.
The music publisher has licensed its catalog to Meta since March 2018, but negotiations to renew the agreement broke down in 2025 after Meta allegedly “sought to drastically cut the license rates, to a small fraction of what Wixen and, therefore, Wixen’s clients, had received over the past seven years”.
According to the complaint, Meta’s platforms had 3 billion monthly active users on Instagram in 2024, with Facebook reaching that milestone by 2023. The lawsuit notes that “in October 2025, Meta announced that Reels is on track to generate $50 billion in advertising revenue in the next 12 months.”
Meta reported total advertising revenue of $161 billion in 2024, according to the lawsuit.
“Meta made these false statements with the malicious intent to strong-arm Wixen into accepting drastically reduced rates.”
LAWSUIT filed by Wixen against Meta
Beyond copyright claims, Wixen has accused Meta of engaging in what it describes as a “pressure campaign” during negotiations. The publisher alleges that Meta removed certain Wixen clients’ music from its platforms while the license was still active, then falsely blamed Wixen for the removal.
The complaint alleges that “Meta made these false statements with the malicious intent to strong-arm Wixen into accepting drastically reduced rates.”
“Rather than own up to the truth that Meta chose, unilaterally, to remove licensed music, Meta told Wixen clients and their representatives that Meta removed their songs because Meta was unable to renew its agreement with Wixen,” the complaint states.
It continues: “Further, Meta falsely told these clients and their representatives that Wixen was muting and blocking the clients’ music on Meta’s Platform.”
The lawsuit includes screenshots showing Wixen-controlled songs like The Doors’ Light My Fire and Styx’s Mr. Roboto appearing in Instagram’s Music Library search results after the license expired.
Wixen suggests Meta’s hardline negotiating position may be connected to its artificial intelligence ambitions, alleging: “Meta’s reason for slashing payments to songwriters is to replace human-generated, royalty-bearing music with royalty-free AI-generated music.”
It notes Meta’s investments in AI infrastructure and its development of “AudioCraft”, which it describes as a tool that “generates music from text prompts and directly threatens the future and livelihood of musical artists”.
The lawsuit adds: “Meta’s success or failure at slashing royalties now will have a profound effect on how other social media platforms approach music royalties.”
Wixen is seeking maximum statutory damages of $150,000 per work infringed – totaling at least $49.65 million for the 331 works listed in the complaint – as well as injunctive relief to prevent further infringement.
The publisher is also seeking at least $20 million in damages for its defamation and business interference claims.Music Business Worldwide
