Brand

Sony Music Sues Over Unauthorized Songs in Social Media Posts, Kroger Faces Up to $59M

Published on August 26, 2026

Sony Music Entertainment and nine affiliated labels sued grocery retailer Kroger on August 21, alleging at least 392 unauthorized uses of their recordings in the grocery chain’s social media posts. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, names 19 Kroger entities, including Ralphs, Harris Teeter, King Soopers and Fred Meyer. At the statutory maximum of $150,000 per work, the filing represents up to $58.8 million in potential exposure.

The recordings cited include tracks by Mariah Carey, OutKast, Bill Withers, Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus. Sony argues the conduct was willful, pointing to Kroger’s 14 prior licensing agreements with the label group since 2017 and $1.18 billion in advertising spend in 2025.

“Kroger is not a company that lacked the budget or the legal function to get this right,” said Liam Doolan, founder of Copyright Check AI, an audit firm that flagged the case. “Our audits show 82% of brands are running unlicensed music in live social media posts, with average potential exposure above $10 million. The gap is almost never intent. It is that nobody owns the audit.”

A Pattern of Litigation

The Kroger suit is the fifth action of its kind against a major brand in under three years, according to Copyright Check AI: Sony Music v. Marriott International (931 alleged uses, up to $139.7 million, settled October 2024), Warner Music v. Crumbl (159 works, up to $23.9 million, settled 2026), UMG and Concord v. Quince (138 works, up to $20.7 million, filed April 2026 and active), and now Sony Music v. Kroger.

The cases vary in how the alleged infringement occurred. In the Marriott case, Sony’s complaint covered posts from Marriott-owned, managed and franchised hotels as well as content from influencers the company paid directly, and followed multiple infringement notices dating to January 2020 before Marriott stopped renewing tolling agreements with Sony. Sony’s ongoing suit against Designer Shoe Warehouse similarly covers both brand-created posts and paid influencer campaigns, alleging 122 unlicensed recordings across more than 170 videos.

“The assumption that a track available in a platform’s audio library is cleared for brand use is simply wrong,” Doolan said. “Those libraries are licensed for personal use. Commercial use by a brand is a separate sync license, and the labels have spent over five years demonstrating they will litigate the difference.”

Doolan’s firm, which audits brand posts across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube for unlicensed music, said four out of five brands it has audited to date carried findings material enough to warrant legal review.