Sony Music Entertainment filed a lawsuit on March 11 against the University of Suthern Californa (USC) for copyright infringement. The music company alleges that the university's various sports team recorded and posted upwards of 170 Sony-owned songs on their social media accounts without proper authorization, according to court documents shared by Music Business Worldwide.

The lawsuit reports 283 recent cases of copyright infringement. Sony alleges that USC regularly exploits popular music, which is typically licensed for distribution at a higher rate, to enhance their sports teams' brands. Citing examples of clips that used Britney Spears' "Gimme More," Michael Jackson's "Beat It," Usher and T-Pain's "Yeah," and Beyoncé's "Run The World (Girls)," the music company claims that USC's unauthorized use prevents artists from collecting revenue, have decision-making power in the distribution of their music, and only allows the university to generate profit, per the March 11 lawsuit.

The complaint claims Sony had originally notified USC of "substantial unauthorized use" of their music in 2021, then again in 2023 and 2024. "Despite having been on notice of its infringing conduct, USC has repeatedly failed to obtain licenses for its use of Sony Music sound recordings on the USC Social Media Pages," they wrote.

According to the suit, USC has a policy regarding music in promotional content. Their rules state:

"All music is copyrighted which means prior to featuring it in your video, you must license it through the proper vendors and channels. Many music libraries exist and you can access them online to secure a license for a reasonable fee....If you want to feature “popular music” in your video, as in music you hear on the radio, you must license it from the publishing company and or record company that produced it..."

The company claims USC refused to take down videos that contained unauthorized music. Instead, the suit alleges, the university chose to publish more marketing content with Sony-owned songs.

"USC has one of the most lucrative college sports programs in the world," the plaintiff writes in the suit, citing that they generated $212 million in athletic revenue for the 2022-2023 school year. Their brand relies a lot on social media marketing, and, according to the lawsuit, "USC’s football program led the nation in digital engagement, and amassed nearly 21 million video views across social media platforms in September 2024 alone.”

In regards to the use of Sony-owned music for marketing, Sony claims the following:

"To help popularize the USC Videos, USC intentionally added Sony Music’s wellknown copyrighted works to the videos. The Sony Music Recordings constitute the soundtrack to the videos, usually running the length of the video and including the most recognizable parts of the tracks, such as the hook or chorus."

The company added that USC includes videos that are meant to generate profit for the university, as they often include links to ticketing sites, official merchandise, university-affiliated websites, and more. Each video also contains USC logos and watermarks, further asserting that the university "owns" all the material shared on the internet.

Sony asks for statutory damages of $150,000 per infraction, or the actual damages and "USC’s profits attributable to the infringement,” the suit reads. In total, the maximum award for the 283 reported infringements would be $42.45 million, according to Music Business World.