Lyrics provider Musixmatch has filed a motion to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit brought against it by rival LyricFind.
Musixmatch describes the case as a “textbook example of a disappointed competitor seeking to use the courts to achieve what it could not in the marketplace.”
The filing adds: “LyricFind, a foreign plaintiff, has neither the right to hale Musixmatch, a foreign defendant, before California courts, nor has it pled any plausible claims that would entitle it to any relief. For the foregoing reasons, the Court should dismiss LyricFind’s Complaint against Musixmatch with prejudice.”
The motion, filed on June 5, 2025, in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, represents Musixmatch’s first formal response to LyricFind’s March lawsuit alleging anticompetitive behavior in the lyrics licensing market.
In Musixmatch’s filing, obtained by MBW, and which you can read in full here, the company characterizes LyricFind’s lawsuit as “meritless”.
LyricFind’s original lawsuit alleged that Musixmatch and its investor TPG conspired with Warner Chappell Music to create an exclusive arrangement that could lead to “monopolistic prices”.
“LyricFind, unable to convince WCM to do business with it instead, has filed this meritless antitrust suit against Musixmatch and [TPG], Musixmatch’s private equity sponsor, hoping it can obtain through litigation what it was unable to win in the marketplace,” the motion states.
It adds: “As the Court well knows, the antitrust laws protect competition, not particular competitors, and this case should be dismissed for myriad reasons. For one, LyricFind’s alleged injury flows from WCM’s lawful decision to end its relationship with LyricFind, which means that LyricFind would have been injured regardless of whether Musixmatch or a different firm was appointed as WCM’s agent.”
The motion describes LyricFind’s core grievance as losing “the competition for an agreement to sublicense and service WCM’s intellectual property.”
It argues that “Competition-for-the-contract is a form of competition that antitrust laws protect rather than proscribe, and it is common.”
The filing adds: “The Complaint tells a story common to many antitrust cases: the Plaintiff, [LyricFind], was angered by the decision of a supplier, [Warner Chappell], to end their relationship and instead license and distribute solely through a rival, Defendant Musixmatch.”
A Musixmatch spokesperson said in a statement: “It is disappointing that LyricFind has resorted to legal action over a business agreement that it was fairly and lawfully unable to win in the marketplace.
“Antitrust laws exist to protect and foster this exact type of competition, not stifle it.”
“LyricFind, unable to convince WCM to do business with it instead, has filed this meritless antitrust suit against Musixmatch and TPG.”
Musixmatch motion to dismiss
The original complaint, which you can read in full here, also alleged that TPG and Musixmatch conspired to force DSPs to take down lyrics supplied by anyone but Musixmatch.
In an open letter published in March, LyricFind Founder & CEO Darryl Ballantyne claimed that “Musixmatch is now effectively the gatekeeper to any DSP that wants to have a complete lyric offering”.
He added: “There is simply no way around having to work with Musixmatch, because even with a direct license from Warner-Chappell, a DSP will still have to source the lyric data from Musixmatch.
“And that’s not just a hypothetical – it’s exactly what happened with Spotify last year, who had completed onboarding with LyricFind but were robbed on the opportunity to select the lyric provider of its choice.”
Another one of Musixmatch’s primary arguments in its motion to dismiss centers on personal jurisdiction, contending that as an Italian company, it should not be subject to California courts.
“Musixmatch is incorporated and has its principal place of business in Italy,” the filing states, disputing LyricFind’s jurisdictional claims. The motion argues that the challenged agreement was “executed in the United Kingdom, and is subject to the laws of England and Wales.”
Musixmatch also challenges LyricFind’s conspiracy claims, arguing it cannot legally conspire with its private equity owner, TPG.
Citing a previous case, [Copperweld Corp. v. Independence Tube Corp], Musixmatch argues that “an investor and its majority-owned portfolio company cannot ‘conspire’ with one another”.Music Business Worldwide
