IANAL but spent a lot of time around DMCA and rights... I doubt the cop playing music on a paid Spotify account/etc in this way would be considered commercial reproduction. At least not by the cop - possibly the by the person uploading the video... and thus the issue and the opportunity for take-down.
I also deal a lot with music copyright, professionally. In this case it’s not about commercial reproduction of the recording, it’s about unauthorized public performance of the underlying work (composition).
My understanding is it only applies if the officer believes they aren’t violating the law? Given the explicit goal is triggering copyright enforcement that seems to negate such a claim?
Qualified Immunity has been interpreted so broadly that it is virtually unqualified - it is almost impossible to actually bring a case against a police officer for something that happens while they are on duty.
General incompetence and ignorance of the law have been used as justification for invoking qualified immunity. I'd be willing to bet there is almost no chance of successfully suing a police officer over something like this.
This a genius response to this if the RIAA actually cared. He is clearly using the music in a public performance as he intends for it to be added to an online video. If the RIAA gave a rats ass about anything but money they could get some serious brownie points by asking anyone who has this down to them to forward the videos so they can serve the individual cops.
It's not a genius response because it makes no sense. The police officer is not responsible for how some stranger filming him decides to use the footage.
