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06 Aug 2024

The MLC Partners With Beatdapp to Fight Streaming Fraud

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) has partnered with Beatdapp, an independent fraud detection company, to prevent streaming fraud. While the MLC already has internal measures in place to fight against this, their collaboration with Beatdapp will provide additional and complementary protections to their database.

Beatdapp has quickly become the music industry’s go-to for independent fraud analysis in the last few years. The company has worked for a number of record labels, collection societies, distributors and streaming services to help them sift through trillions of lines of data and identify and investigate suspicious patterns. At the beginning of this year, Beatdapp announced a strategic partnership with Universal Music Group and a fundraise of $17 million in its latest funding round. Other clients include SoundCloud, Beatport, 7digital and more.

According to a report from Centre National de la Musique (CNM), a government-backed organization that supports France’s music industry, in 2021, over 1 billion music streams — between 1% and 3% of all streams generated in the country that year — were fraudulent. Streaming fraud can take on a number of forms. This can include falsely claiming royalties and ownership of songs made by other artists, or uploading songs and juicing their stream count using various means, like bot farms or account hacking.

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Billboard has investigated the rise and persistence of royalties fraud, including one story detailing an outfit out of Arizona, called Mediamuv, which stole $23 million in YouTube royalties over the course of 5 years. “The methods used by fraudsters are constantly evolving and improving,” as the CNM report states.

“The MLC is uniquely positioned within the music industry to contribute significantly to addressing streaming fraud,” says Andrew Mitchell, chief analytics and automation officer at The MLC. “Building on our ongoing efforts, we are proud to be working with Beatdapp to further amplify the many ways The MLC serves its 43,000+ Members.”

“The MLC plays a vital role in the music industry and we’re proud to collaborate with them and enhance their continuous efforts to combat streaming fraud,” says Morgan Hayduk and Andrew Batey, co-CEOs at Beatdapp. “Beatdapp has built its technology by learning from the best trust and safety solutions serving other online verticals and tailoring our technology to the unique attributes of music, to provide an unbiased, independent fraud detection solution capable of grappling with the persistent and ever-changing nature of fraud.”

06 Aug 2024

Timothée Chalamet Bob Dylan Biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’ Locked For Christmas Release

Timothée Chalamet‘s anticipated turn as a young Bob Dylan in the upcoming biopic A Complete Unknown is getting an A-list release date. Searchlight Pictures announced on Tuesday (August 6) that the anticipated film from director James Mangold (Logan) will hit theaters on December 25.

That Christmas release date falls in the heart of what is typically considered Oscar bait season, when a number of prestige films that are thought to be Academy Award-worthy hit screens across the country in the hopes that any buzz or box-office boom will carry over into the Oscar nominations when they are announced on Jan. 17, 2025.

The film will feature the Dune star singing Dylan’s songs in a story set in New York in the early 1960s when, according to a description of the screenplay by Mangold and Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York), “an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota arrives in the West Village with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music.”

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It continues, “As he forms his most intimate relationships during his rise to fame, he grows restless with the folk movement and, refusing to be defined, makes a controversial choice that culturally reverberates worldwide.” In addition to Chalemet as Dylan, the film will feature Edward Norton as folk legend Pete Seeger, Elle Fanning as Dylan’s early muse and girlfriend Sylvie Russo, Monica Barbaro as fellow folkie Joan Baez and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash.

Oscar nominee Chalemet drew early praise for his embodiment of the enigmatic folk rock icon in the first trailer that dropped in late July in which he sings Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” in the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s signature nasal wheeze and drops into some of the singer’s favorite New York hang spots, including Cafe Wha? and Gerde’s Folk City.

Watch the trailer for A Complete Unknown below.

06 Aug 2024

Tyler Hubbard Revamps The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ in Apple Music Nashville Sessions

Tyler Hubbard is putting his own spin on a modern pop classic. The two-time Billboard Country Airplay chart-topper recently recorded a batch of songs as part of the Apple Music Nashville Sessions, and alongside some of his own hits, he reimagined The Weeknd‘s 2020 four-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Blinding Lights.”

Hubbard’s performance was recorded live in Spatial Audio at Apple Music’s Nashville studios. The three-song EP features — in addition to “Blinding Lights” — renditions of “Turn” from Hubbard’s new album Strong and “Me For Me” from his debut self-titled album.

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Hubbard is headlining a slate of fairs and festivals across the U.S. and will launch his headlining Strong World Tour on Sept. 6 in Indianapolis, with the tour making stops in Canada and Australia before wrapping at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium.

“Blinding Lights” was featured on The Weeknd’s 2020 album After Hours. At the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, “Blinding Lights” was named top Hot 100 song, top radio song and top R&B song, while After Hours was named top R&B album.

Hubbard released his second solo album, Strong, in April on EMI Nashville. Hubbard told Billboard at the time that he felt “a little more established, found a little bit more of a rhythm. Until last year, I didn’t know who my fanbase really was, but I got to know them, being on the road so much last year. I know who my fanbase is, so this feels like the first project that I’ve written with my fans in mind.”

Listen to Hubbard’s Apple Music Nashville Sessions featuring his take on “Blinding Lights” below:

06 Aug 2024

Sam Smith & Alicia Keys Cozy Up for an ‘Intimate’ Studio Session in ‘I’m Not the Only One’ Video

Sam Smith is officially not the only one on their song “I’m Not the Only One.”

On Tuesday (Aug. 6), Smith dropped the official music video for their duet version of “I’m Not the Only One” featuring Alicia Keys. Showing clips from a live recording at Keys’ Jungle City Studios in New York City, the video tracks the duo’s cozy session as they reimagine the British singer’s beloved hit 10 years later.

The video also follows Smith at their In the Lonely Hour anniversaryparty in June, where he and Keys first performed their new version of the song the night prior to their studio session. Footage shows Smith celebrating with the evening’s emcee Lady Bunny, as well as greeting friends and fans alike before taking to the stage with Keys.

In a statement, Smith reiterated that they were “so honored” to work with Keys on the new version of the single, calling her “an incredible talent and a beautiful soul.” Keys added that the collaboration had “been on both of our wishlists,” before detailing how the recording session happened. “The vibe was super intimate … My son Egypt played Sam some keys and my son Genesis was telling jokes the whole time. Pure music, singing in the room together while I was playing piano.”

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The new version comes off of Smith’s 10th anniversary edition of their debut album, In the Lonely Hour. Along with the new collaboration, the album (out now via Capitol Records) also features a re-recorded version of Smith’s breakout hit “Stay With Me,” a new song titled “Little Sailor” and a number of other collaborations featuring artists including Mary J. Blige, A$AP Rocky and John Legend.

Check out the official video for Sam Smith and Alicia Keys’ “I’m Not the Only One” above.

06 Aug 2024

Signed: Monica Inks With WME, Soft Play Get a Rise Out of BMG

Monica signed with WME in all areas. The Grammy-winning singer recently came off a supporting slot on Nick Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 Tour in North America and is prepping the release of two full-lenghts this year: R&B album MDA and country album Open Roads (executive produced by Brandi Carlile). She recently joined Brandy on a remix of Ariana Grande’s “the boy is mine” — a reimagining of the pair’s smash 1998 duet. Monica continues to be managed by Melinda Dancil.

English punk rock duo Soft Play partnered with Rise Records/BMG for the release of their new album, Heavy Jelly, which debuted at No. 3 on the UK Official Albums Chart dated July 25, 2024. The duo was previously known as Slaves before changing their name in 2022 following a backlash over their former moniker.

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ONErpm signed L.A.-based alt-rock trio Sick Puppies (“You’re Going Down”) for the release of the band’s forthcoming sixth album Wave the Bull, which is due out early next year. The album’s first single, “There Goes the Neighborhood,” was released July 26.

RECORDS Nashville signed newcomer singer-songwriter Drew Green, who has seen viral success with the song “Lotta Bit of You.” RECORDS Nashville is the boutique outpost of industry executive Barry Weiss’ label RECORDS. Green’s first RECORDS Nashville-helmed single is “Town Drunk,” while he’s also prepping an upcoming collaboration with HARDY titled “Colorado.” – Jessica Nicholson

Bruce Kalmick‘s WHY&HOW added artists Tyler Halverson and Cameron Sacky Band to its artist management roster. Halverson will be overseen by Patrick Farr while Allie Petko and Eddie Kloesel will oversee Cameron Sacky Band. Halverson has released the independent singles “Beer Garden Baby,” “Mac Miller” and “Your Bar Now,” while Cameron Sacky Band issued a self-titled 2021 EP and is set to release the full-length project Quicksand. Cameron Sacky Band is repped by The Neal Agency for booking. – Jessica Nicholson

Singer-songwriter John Morgan signed with Rich MGMT. The North Carolina native is also signed to Night Train Records/BBR Music Group and is currently on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart with the song “Friends Like That” featuring Jason Aldean. Morgan also has writing credits on hits including Aldean’s “That’s What Tequila Does,” “Trouble With a Heartbreak” and “If I Didn’t Love You” with Carrie Underwood. Rich MGMT was founded by Brendan Rich in 2023 with a roster that also includes Matt Stell, George Birge and Darren Kiely. The company also recently added to its staff with digital coordinator Jordan Policastri, who joins day-to-day managers Sarah Paravia and Chase Miller. – Jessica Nicholson

Montreal beatmaker/instrumentalist tender spring, who is part of the Canadian indie band Afternoon Bike Ride, signed to Nettwerk for the release of the album you are now listening to a tender spring. Born David Tanton, the musician released the album’s “side a” on July 26, with the remainder to be released at a later date.

Nettwerk also signed L.A.-based, New Zealand-born Laotian artist Alisa Xayalith, who is best known as the frontwoman of The Naked and Famous. The label is set to release her new single, “Roses,” on Friday (Aug. 9), to be followed by more new music produced by Tyler Spry (OneRepublic, Tate McCrae).

Elektra Records signed Kevian Kraemer, an 18-year-old singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer based in New Jersey who released his debut EP Seventeen earlier this year. On Friday (Aug. 2), the label released a stripped-down version of his breakthrough track “Attention.” Kramer is managed by Chris McAndrew and Jamar Richardson at Paia Management, with legal representation by attorney Paul Rothenberg at Rothenberg, Mohr, & Binder.

Ken Pomeroy, a Cherokee singer-songwriter from Moore, Okla., signed to Rounder Records. Now based in Tulsa, Okla., Pomeroy’s song “Cicadas” was featured in an episode of the FX series Reservation Dogs. She also appeared in this summer’s Twisters, performing her song “Wall of Death” with Wilderado and James McAlister. The song is also featured on the film’s soundtrack.

Downtown Neighboring Rights signed a global deal with singer-songwriter Lady Blackbird to represent her catalog, which includes singles such as “Woman,” “Feel It Coming” and “Dark Days” with Moby.

Secretly Canadian signed singer-songwriter Brandon. The label will release his EP Blush on Sept. 13; the first single, “Without You,” was released Wednesday (July 31).

My Brightest Diamond signed to Western Vinyl, which will release her new album, Fight the Real Terror, on Sept. 13. The singer-songwriter, who just came off her originating role in Broadway’s Illinoise (based on the Sufjan Stevens album), is managed by Andrea Troolin at Ekonomisk and booked by Alex Fang at New Frontier (North America) and James Alderman at Free Trade (international). Her new song, “Have You Ever Seen an Angel,” was released July 26.

Capitol CMG has signed artist-writer Claire Leslie, who just released her label debut single, “Original.” The song was written by Leslie, Jordan Sapp and Daniella Mason. – Jessica Nicholson

Third Man Records signed Australian band The Belair Lip Bombs and will reissue the group’s 2023 album, Lush Life. It is the label’s first Australian signing. The Bombs’ second album is expected for release sometime next year.

06 Aug 2024

How New Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash Releases Put a Different Spin on Two Classic Voices

They’ve both been gone for decades, and yet it’s still possible to hear two Country Music Hall of Fame members who started at Sun Records, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, in new ways.

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Presley is the subject of Memphis (due Aug. 9 from RCA/Legacy), a 111-track, five-disc box set that mines recordings from five different locations in his adopted hometown: the Sun Recording Studio, the American Studios, the Stax Studio, the Mid-South Coliseum and Graceland Mansion’s Jungle Room. On three of the studio discs, previously released tracks are remixed strictly using the instrumentation from the core tracking session, leaving out material that was overdubbed at a later date.

“By not having the additional strings and backing vocals, there [is] an intimacy to it that would reveal things that we hadn’t heard before,” says Memphis producer Ernst Jorgensen, a well-established Presley authority. “So songs come out with a different feel to them.”

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The Presley package arrives with the 70th anniversary of his seminal recording of “That’s All Right,” the single that launched his career. 

Coincidentally, Cash’s 11-track Songwriter (released June 28 by Mercury Nashville/Universal Music Enterprises) includes the similarly titled “Well Alright” — a previously unreleased, 30-year-old song that echoes the spacious, simplistic sound that characterized his own Sun recordings. John Carter Cash produced the album with David Ferguson, isolating the Man in Black’s vocals from a series of 1993 recordings and reframing them with new arrangements.

“I always wanted to know what would happen if it went down to the bare essence of the correct, simple picture behind my father,” John Carter said during a media listening event earlier this year. It’s “the right instrumentation, the sound of Johnny Cash supported by people who had played with him, mostly.”

It’s no secret that record labels are able to bolster their bottom lines by repackaging and/or reimagining catalog material from their best-selling artists, though after creating multiple retro releases of classic artists, it becomes increasingly difficult to find fresh ways to celebrate them. The new Presley and Cash releases succeed in representing multiple facets of each performer’s career. Memphis captures Presley in his early rockabilly stage, explores his “Suspicious Minds” comeback era and wraps with the massive productions that marked his live shows and studio efforts in his final, mid-’70s years. 

Songwriter, while drawing on Cash cuts from 1993, points to different eras in his own evolution. “Well Alright,” by adapting “boom-chick” production to a story about meeting a woman in a laundromat, has elements of his 1957 hit “Ballad of a Teenage Queen.” “I Love You Tonite” reflects on his relationship with June Carter Cash while employing an appropriate country-ballad posture. “Hello Out There” — written after the 1977 launch of the Voyager spacecraft — takes a spiritual view of the universe’s expanse, much like his “I fly a starship” verse in “Highwayman.” And the tremolo-enhanced “Spotlight,” with a bluesy guitar solo by Dan Auerbach,fits neatly into the Americana genre that coalesced during Cash’s latter years.

“Dad saw no limits, and he said, ‘Always follow your heart,’ ” John Carter recalled. “So that’s what we did.”

Working with catalogs of such cultural heft as Presley and Cash is not for the faint of heart. “It’s very nerve-wracking,” says Memphis-based engineer Matt Ross-Spang, who remixed Memphis.

With the Cash material, the job was to enhance unfamiliar songs with musical settings that felt appropriate to his artistic sensibilities. With Presley, the assignment involved treating familiar performances — including a number of classics — with reverence, even while revising them. “You want to make it better, but you also don’t want to take it out of the realm of how we’ve all heard it and loved it all these decades,” Ross-Spang says. “I tried to really be true to the original. I tried to be true to the musicians’ and the producers’ direction.”

In the new remix of “Kentucky Rain,” sans the background chorus and horn section, Hammond B-3 stabs become suddenly evident. And on Presley’s underappreciated “My Boy,” Ronnie Tutt’s drum fills take on extra importance. In some ways, it sets up the sound of the live disc, where Tutt is a driving force.

“In a wonderful way, he’s overplaying,” Ross-Spang observes. “Every hip shake from Elvis, every scarf throw, every look or hand throw Elvis does, Ronnie’s doing an amazing drum fill. All the songs are going 90 miles an hour, and Ronnie’s leading the charge. It’s incredible. A big reason why those live shows were so exciting was Ronnie Tutt’s drums.”

Considered in tandem, Presley’s Memphis and Cash’s Songwriter hint at interesting parallels between both artists. They each played a role in the development of rockabilly while they were Sun labelmates in the 1950s. And both employed large concert ensembles during the 1970s — Presley stacked two backing vocal groups atop a large-size live band; Cash similarly performed on his ABC-TV show in the early 1970s with his band expanded by two supporting vocal groups (The Carter Family and The Statler Brothers), plus a sizable orchestra. 

Cash eventually returned to a simpler sound with his Rick Rubin-produced American Recordings, beginning just months after he recorded the vocals that appear on Songwriter. Since Presley died at age 42, how he would have approached his senior recording years remains a mystery. But the two packages provide a reminder of how two significant 20th-century voices drew on small-town roots music to help shape the arc of modern country.

“They had great determination to go along with the melting pot of music that they came from,” Jorgensen notes. “Any kind of music — if you came from Arkansas, or Mississippi or Louisiana — was available to you. You couldn’t say the same about a lot of city environments.” 

06 Aug 2024

Pitbull Purchases Naming Rights to FIU Football Stadium — Now Known as Pitbull Stadium

Pitbull is always looking for way to make history, and Mr. 305 has done it again. The Miami resident has reached an agreement to purchase the naming rights to Florida International University’s football stadium, ESPN reports.

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According to the network, Pitbull and FIU entered a five-year deal in which the “Time of Our Lives” artist will pay $6 million to the university for FIU Stadium to be renamed to Pitbull Stadium.

“International recording artist Pitbull is purchasing the naming rights to FIU’s football stadium,” ESPN’s reporter Pete Thamel noted on X. “He’s expected to pay the school $1.2 million per year for the next five years to change the name of FIU Stadium to Pitbull Stadium, per FIU board documents.”

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Pitbull shared the news in a video on Instagram that shows him dancing on a giant screen above the football field, with a sign above that reads “Pitbull Stadium” as his song “Triumph” plays.

It’s a landmark agreement as Pitbull is the first musician to have a stadium bear their name in the history of college athletics. Once approved, Pitbull Stadium will take effect this upcoming football season with FIU set to host Central Michigan in their home opener on Sept. 7.

“What we’re doing here is groundbreaking. We’re making history. This is history in the making,” Pitbull told ESPN. “You’re going to see that every other university is going to want to do the same thing. But the difference is, we don’t do this for propaganda, we do it from the heart. We do it because it’s meaningful. We do it because I’m from the crib. I’m 305. I’m from the bottom. This is my backyard.”

ESPN also reports that there’s an option in the deal for the Grammy winner to renew the naming rights for another five years if he chooses to do so. Other parts of the agreement include Pitbull crafting an anthem for the school, posting about FIU 12 times per year on social media and make an annual appearance at a university fundraising event. ESPN also reported that the 43-year-old mogul will have access to the 20,000-person capacity stadium for 10 days a year, and his vodka company will be the “preferred” distributor for liquor served in the venue. He also will be given a pair of luxury box suites to every home game.

Pitbull will look to bring his mojo for success to the school as it’s been tough sledding for FIU on the gridiron. The team hasn’t had a winning season since 2018 and is coming off a pair of rough 4-8 campaigns under head coach Mike MacIntyre.

Watch Mr. Worldwide celebrate getting the stadium named after him in his post below.

06 Aug 2024

Sabrina Carpenter Says Pal Taylor Swift Is a Genuine ‘Rock Star… Just Such a Gangster With All Of It’

Sabrina Carpenter got an up-close-and-personal look at just how hard Taylor Swift rocks the stage when she opened for the Tortured Poets Department star on the Latin American, Australian and Singaporean legs of Swift’s Eras Tour in late 2023 and early 2024. And in a new interview with Variety, Carpenter says what she came away with was an indisputable fact: “Taylor is a rock star!”

The comment came while the singer/actress was perusing the racks at a Los Angeles record store and noticed that Swift’s latest chart-topping album was filed in the rock section. “She’s just such a gangster with all of it. No matter what people are saying, everything that I’ve ever seen her tackle, she’s done so with grace,” Carpenter added about the opening slot she has called a “dream come true.”

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That dream has become a reality, with Carpenter, 25, telling the magazine that Swift is now, “one of my best, best friends, and we grab dinner or text and catch up like you would with your best friend.”

The story also touches on her relationship with Saltburn actor Barry Keoghan. While Carpenter was cagey about details, she did reveal that the actor was totally into the Basic Instinct-inspired video treatment for her Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Please Please Please,” which features lyrics about a troublesome thespian boyfriend. “He loved the song. He’s obsessed with the lyrics, and I’m so grateful for that,” she says of the track on which she famously warns: “Heartbreak is one thing/ My ego’s another/ I beg you don’t embarrass me mother f–ker.”

She adds, “I don’t want to sound biased, but I think he’s one of the best actors of this generation. So getting to see him on the screen with my song as the soundtrack made the video better and all the more special.”

The video is, of course, part of the wind-up to Carpenter’s anticipated upcoming sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet (August 23), which she refers to as the “hot older sister” of 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send. “It’s my second ‘big girl’ album; it’s a companion but it’s not the same. When it comes to having full creative control and being a full-fledged adult, I would consider this a sophomore album,” she says of the earlier collection that featured the singles “Vicious,” “Nonsense” and “Fast Times.”

And, despite “Espresso” climbing all the way up to No. 3 on the Hot 100 and its weirdly alluring hook (“That’s that me, espresso”) becoming a ubiquitous meme this summer, Carpenter reveals that she was “completely alone” in wanted to release it as the first single. “Not so much from my immediate team. But when it came to ‘the powers above,’” she says in air quotes about unnamed naysayers who didn’t get it, “there was a lot of questioning behind whether it made sense. But they trusted me in the end, and I was happy that I believed in myself at that moment.” 

06 Aug 2024

AI Music Wars, Roc-A-Fella Auction, Cardi B Divorce, Deepfakes Bill & More Top Music Law News

This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.

This week: AI music firms Suno and Udio hit back hard at a billion-dollar copyright lawsuit filed by the major labels; Damon Dash faces a court-ordered auction of his one-third stake in Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records; Cardi B files for divorce from husband Offset; and much more.

THE BIG STORY: “A Threat to Their Market Share” 

The first “answer” to a lawsuit is typically a pretty sparse document. An accused defendant admits or denies each claim and offers up a list of every possible defense they might use, but that’s about it. The real arguments are usually saved for later filings, like a motion to dismiss the case. 

That’s what made the answers filed last week by AI music firms Suno and Udio so fascinating. Facing sprawling copyright lawsuits from the music industry, the two companies went well beyond boilerplate denials – offering extended arguments that attempted to frame the narrative of a multi-billion dollar legal battle that could take years to resolve. 

In doing so, they admitted to using copyrighted songs to train their models, and they argued that doing so was clearly a form of legal “fair use.” And they blasted the major labels (Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment) that filed the case, accusing them of abusing copyright law to maintain that power. 

“What the major record labels really don’t want is competition,” Suno wrote in its filing. “Where Suno sees musicians, teachers and everyday people using a new tool to create original music, the labels see a threat to their market share.” 

Go read our full story on the response filings, with access to the full arguments made by both companies. 

Other top stories this week…

REASONABLE DOUBT? – Damon Dash’s one-third stake in Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records is going up for a court-ordered auction later this month to help pay off his debts – namely, more than $1 million in legal judgments and another $145,000 in unpaid child support. The minimum bid for the auction has been set at $1.2 million, but it’s not exactly clear what the buyer would be purchasing — and they shouldn’t expect a normal due diligence process. 

JT PLEADS NOT GUILTY – Justin Timberlake entered a not guilty plea to drunk driving charges following his June arrest in the Hamptons, appearing virtually while on the European leg of his Forget Tomorrow World Tour. During the hearing, the star’s attorney reiterated previous statements that Timberlake (who refused to take a breathalyzer) was actually not intoxicated at the time of his arrest. 

CARDI B DIVORCE – Cardi B filed for divorce from Offset after seven years of marriage, a split that her reps said “has been a long time coming and is amicable.” In her divorce petition, filed in New Jersey court, the Grammy-winning hip-hop superstar is seeking primary custody of her two children and unborn baby on the way, as well as child support from Offset. The “WAP” star previously filed for divorce in 2020 in Atlanta, but later withdrew the case after the two stars reconciled. 

DON’T STOP LITIGATIN’ – The never-ending legal battle between Journey members Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon erupted yet again, with Cain filing a new lawsuit against Schon over claims that his “exorbitant” spending and other problems have led to a “deadlock” that’s threatening to cripple the band’s touring operations. If you want an idea of how dysfunctional things have gotten between Cain and Schon: “It is common that one director will terminate an employee or crew member, and hours or days later, the other director will rehire that same individual.” 

NO BOND FOR YOUNG THUG – Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, the newly-installed replacement judge overseeing Young Thug’s sprawling Atlanta gang trial, denied the rapper’s renewed request to be released from jail, leaving him incarcerated until a verdict is reached sometime next year. Thug has already been sitting in jail for more than two years while the slow-moving case has dragged on, through an unprecedented 10-month jury selection, a trial marked by delays and disruptions, and now weeks of tumult over a secret meeting between the judge and prosecutors. 

FEDERAL AI DEEPFAKES BILL – A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced the NO FAKES Act, which aims to protect artists and others from deepfakes and AI-powered fake vocals like last year’s Fake Drake song. The bill would for the first time create federal intellectual property protections for the so-called right of publicity, which restricts how someone’s name, image, likeness and voice can be used without consent.  

STUBHUB SUED OVER ‘JUNK FEES’ – StubHub was hit with a lawsuit from Washington D.C.’s attorney general over allegations that the ticket resale platform foists “convoluted junk fees” on concertgoers after luring them in with “deceptively low prices.” The case, which echoes complaints made by the Department of Justice about Live Nation and Ticketmaster, claims that DC consumers alone have paid $118 million in such fees to StubHub since 2015. 

R. KELLY AT SCOTUS – The disgraced R&B singer took one of his sex abuse convictions to the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the justices to overturn his convictions for child pornography and enticement on statute of limitations grounds. The appeal does not deal with Kelly’s other set of convictions on racketeering charges, which remains pending before a lower court. 

KISS KISS, BANG BANG – The 1975 and the band’s frontman Matty Healy were hit with a $2.4 million lawsuit from the organizers of Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival – an event that was shut down last summer after Healy gave a speech criticizing the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws and then kissed a male bandmate on stage. The incident (which has been criticized by local rights activists as counterproductive) breached the band’s contract with the festival, according to the lawsuit. 

SAMPLE SETTLEMENT – French Montana reached a settlement to end a lawsuit claiming his 2022 song “Blue Chills” features an unlicensed sample from Skylar Gudasz’s 2020 song “Femme Fatale.” The deal will resolve a case that claimed French’s reps had tentatively agreed to license the clip, but that the rapper released the song without ever actually doing so. 

JUICE WRLD ESTATE SUED – A music producer named Joshua Jaramillo is suing Juice WRLD’s estate over claims that he’s owed royalties from the late rapper’s 2021 hit “Girl of My Dreams.” Jaramillo claims he was promised a 5% ownership stake and an additional 1% producer royalty for the track, which featured Suga of BTS and debuted at No. 29 on the Hot 100. 

ANOTHER TIKTOK CASE – The Justice Department filed a new lawsuit against TikTok claiming the social media giant had violated children’s online privacy law and run afoul of a previous settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. While serious, the case is likely second on the list for TikTok’s legal team, which is also litigating a separate lawsuit challenging legislation that would block the company from operating in the U.S. entirely. 

CYRUS DIVORCE SETTLED – Billy Ray Cyrus and wife Firerose (born Johanna Hodges) have reached a settlement to end their contentious divorce case, ending weeks of hyperbolic accusations of abuse and wrongdoing from both sides. In a statement, Cyrus said he was “relieved” and called the short-lived marriage an “insane scam.” A source close to Firerose countered with a statement that said she had settled for no money and wanted her husband’s “smear campaign” to end. 

KEHLANI CULT CLAIMS – Kehlani’s ex-partner Javaughn Young-White filed a petition seeking legal and physical custody of their 5-year-old daughter, claiming that singer is involved in a cult. “This cult controls her actions and her behavior, including when it comes to the upbringing of our daughter,” Young-White’s lawyers wrote. 

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06 Aug 2024

Empire of the Sun Talk New Album & Why ‘Sound Is the Medicine of the Future’

On the occasion of their recently released fourth studio album, Ask That God, Empire of the Sun‘s Nick Littlemore and Luke Steele recently came through the Billboard News studio to talk about the new music and the past, present and future of their longstanding project.

“We had to turn all of the computers off, we had to shut everything down, and even though the pandemic was horrible, for the band I thought it was a bit of a blessing because we got to step away,” says the group’s frontman Steele of the eight years between the new LP and the band’s last album. “For 20 years we’ve built this castle, and it was time for us to kind of abandon the dream and let it all get covered in reeds, to then come back again and realize what we loved so much about it in the first place.”

“I think what brings us back is what Edgar Cayce said,” adds Littlemore, referencing the late American clairvoyant, “is that sound is the medicine of the future, and I think we’re seeing that now, and I think that’s what’s always binded us together, is to make things that would live in the hearts.”

This elevated thinking applied to all areas of the album, including its title, with Littlemore saying that “everyone has their own person Jesus, or Allah or Buddha or whoever it is for that person. And I think music can be that for you too, and it’s certainly been that for us. And that is often the intention when we’re creating music, to create something that can be a beacon of hope and can be a signal of light and levity.”

To bring the album to life visually, the duo trekked to Thailand to film a series of characteristically cinematic, fantastical high-concept videos, many of them shot during long days in 100-degree heat.

But the pair says the sweat was effort was worth it for how the vibrant, layered clips — a few of which feature cameos from Steele’s son — expand the Empire of the Sun mythology “into a new dimension,” says Littlemore. “We’ve always been about something a little larger than the other bands. That’s the reason we started in the first place … we looked at the landscape and saw shoegazing, and we wanted to see Bowie.”

During the conversation, the pair also discuss Ask That God track “AEIOU,” the first collaboration between the band and Littlemore’s longstanding Pnau project, along with their upcoming tour, which includes a headlining show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in November.

Watch the complete interview above.