Amazon faces the music over unlicensed streaming: Artists accuse Jeff Bezos of ‘wilful blindness’
Jeff Bezos has been accused of ‘wilful blindness’ to the unlicensed use of music on Amazon’s video streaming platform, Twitch.
Artists say hits by stars such as Ariana Grande have been used without permission, in breach of copyright laws.
But when confronted about this by members of US Congress earlier this month, the Amazon founder said he did not know about the issue.
Copyright row: Artists say hits by stars such as Ariana Grande (pictured) have been used on Amazon without permission, in breach of copyright laws
In a letter to the 56-year-old, who is the world’s richest person, the Artists Rights Alliance called on him to ‘provide a public answer’ to criticisms, beyond the ‘minimal and inadequate’ efforts so far, according to the Financial Times.
Twitch has found itself in trouble over the use of music in videos published to its platform by users.
It has not struck a deal with record companies to licence this music and so instead sends ‘take down requests’ to users when copyright breaches are detected.
Bezos was asked about the issue earlier this month during a hearing in the US Congress.
But a seemingly perplexed CEO told a senator: ‘I don’t know.’