Former VCU students sue Spotify over ‘Jams’ idea
Illustration by Lauren Smith.
Sal Orlando, Staff Writer
Five former VCU graduate students are suing Spotify for plagiarism and $10 million in damages, claiming the company stole their idea for “Spotify Jams.”
First reported by Courthouse News, Elizabeth Hopkinson, Hunter Noxon, Thomas Daley, Richard Whelchel and Caroline Loef were studying advertising at the VCU Brandcenter in 2017 when they claim to have come up with the idea for Spotify Jams for an assignment, which later evolved into a passion project.
“Spotify users would be able to listen to music in real time with any other Spotify user, whether they are in the same room or across the country,” the plaintiffs wrote in their complaint.
“It started as an assignment, then moving to a passion project that they believed could be a game changer,” the plaintiffs stated. “Plaintiffs shared the project with faculty and others and received overwhelmingly positive feedback.”
The students were encouraged to contact Spencer Hansen, former creative director for Spotify, about their idea. No one from Spotify responded to them.
In 2023, six years later, Spotify released the Jams feature: “a personalized, real-time listening session for your group to tune into together,” as described by the music-streaming giant.
Spotify said the similarities are a coincidence, according to the complaint.
Ashley Brooks, a lawyer specializing in advertising and marketing, stated the plaintiffs will need to show their idea is an original one, and Spotify’s use of Jams is similar enough to the original idea.
“They will probably also need to address the timing from sending the idea to its implementation,” Brooks stated.
Brooks stated she cannot definitively say whether or not the plaintiffs have the grounds to sue.
“In a lot of academic settings, and VCU is no different, companies will partner with schools to enable academic projects but also develop viable ideas or other IP [intellectual property],” Brooks stated. “Usually there are NDA’s or other agreements in place to establish the parameters of any relationship and who would own any resulting IP.”
The group demanded a trial by jury and requested an accounting be done on all profits made and business done by Spotify as a result of the Jams feature, according to the complaint. No date has been set for when a trial could begin, as the complaint is still in litigation.
Kaitlyn Jenkins, a fourth-year anthropology student, said that she has used the feature a few times but finds it difficult to use and she was not aware of the lawsuit.
“That’s crazy, I mean, companies do that stuff all the time, but I didn’t know VCU students had that happen to them,” Jenkins said.
Fethi Givermichael, a first-year biology student, said the Jams feature is nice and allows him to conveniently listen to music with his friends.
“I think it’s [the lawsuit] pretty interesting,” Givermichael said. “I feel like the people who claim to create it [Jams] should come out and talk about it more, so people can get to know about it.”
