Spotify’s new real-time lyrics feature could face legal issues

The real-time lyrics feature that Spotify added to its desktop app this past week hasn’t impressed the U.S. karaoke industry. Joseph C Vangieri, the CEO of DigiTrax, has called it “unfair competition for us American ‘Karaoke’ companies.” Lest you think that he has a beef with Spotify, know that his anger is directed at music publishers and not toward the music streaming service. On Thursday, Vangieri asked the publishing industry to weigh in on the legality of Spotify’s Musixmatch-powered lyrics feature in an open letter clearly penned in angry haste. “So how is Spotify getting around getting video sync license for this feature? ” he asked, pointing out that “there are a great many songwriters who will not allow ‘karaoke’ of their songs.” He also called attention to a power-packed list of holdouts that includes such leading lights of the music world as Bon Jovi, Led Zeppelin, and Madonna.