"I'm not taking anybody's side here, as to what copyright law ought to be, but Spotify isn't abusing the legal process here". Normally, only those who own one

"I'm not taking anybody's side here, as to what copyright law ought to be, but Spotify isn't abusing the legal process here". Normally, only those who own one or more of the exclusive rights in copyright can actually enforce. Spotify does not own copyright in the music involved in the archive, unless they created some of it (which would be an interesting story, actually - spotify competing with its own artists). So normally, they would not be able to sue for copyright related violations against anyone. The other plaintiffs (record companies) are not abusing legal process, but it is unclear what spotify is doing in this lawsuit. They almost certainly do not own meaningful copyright in the metadata, either, and that would be a bad precedent to see set.