Spinrilla is facing up against all of the major record labels for offering free “mixtapes” including copyright music by Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce and Kanye West.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have accused Spinrilla and founder Jeffery Dylan Copeland of “rampant copyright infringement”. With the backing of all the major music labels Spinrilla now faces a big fat litigation that will hopefully teach silly old Copeland a lesson in paying artists their due.

Attorney for the labels, James Lamberth, explains their issue with the site in their legal complaint, saying: “Through the Spinrilla website and apps, users with an artist account can upload content that any other user can then download or stream on demand for free, an unlimited number of times. A substantial amount of content uploaded to the Spinrilla website and apps consists of popular sound recordings whose copyrights are owned by the plaintiffs.”

Mixtape sites are important for up-and-coming artists and have been the making of many artists, and assumably for that reason labels are often accepting of these sites. The issue with Spinrilla however is that they offered a Premium version, monetising free content involving copyrighted artists. In addition Spinrilla’s popularity had built to a point where it could make a real dent in the industry.

The RIAA have reportedly identified over 21,000 copyrighted sound recordings on the service that are owned by the labels. The RIAA said in a statement: “Spinrilla specialises in ripping off music creators by offering thousands of unlicensed sound recordings for free. Fans today have access to millions upon millions of songs from innovative platforms and services that pay creators – this kind of illicit activity has no place in today’s music marketplace.” The RIAA have reportedly identified over 21,000 copyrighted sound recordings on the service that are owned by the labels.

Spinrilla are yet to comment upon the case but ironically write on their website: “Spinrilla takes copyright infringement very seriously. (not as seriously as labels obviously) In order to provide the best mixtapes and ensure top quality we do not allow infringed upon works to be posted on our website.”