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09 Nov 2022

Watch VASSY Perform at Denver Nuggets’ NBA Game

When VASSY shoots, she scores.

The hitmaking Australian singer and songwriter is a star in the EDM space, with several slam dunks of her own.

Earlier this year, her 2014 hit “Bad” with David Guetta and Showtek passed one billion streams on YouTube, and a posterizing two billion plays across all platforms.

Born in Darwin, now based in the United States, VASSY boasts six No. 1s on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart (including “Bad” and 2018’s “Lost” with Afrojack featuring Oliver Rosa), she’s had songs featured in film and TV, including the trailer for Disney’s Frozen, won a prestigious International Dance Music Award and, last year, joined APRA AMCOS’ The 1,000,000,000 List.

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The wins don’t stop there. In 2013, she became the first Australian artist to hit No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart with her solo number “We Are Young,” and she has played to heaving audiences around the globe, including Miami’s Ultra Music Festival, Belgium’s Tomorrowland, and New York’s Electric Zoo.

This week, the multi-platinum artist added an NBA halftime show to her collection of career highlights.

Wearing the No. 50 jersey of two-time NBA dunk contest runner-up Aaron Gordon, VASSY performed a mini-set on Denver’s Ball Arena homecourt, on Pride Night.

“Had a blast,” she writes on her socials. “Such an epic night.”

VASSY turned out to be a good luck charm for the home team, whose roster includes reigning league MVP Nikola Jokic and fellow Aussie, Duke alum Jack White, who signed a two-way contract in the off-season.

The Nuggets held off the San Antonio Spurs, 126-101. And for the record, VASSY got to keep Gordon’s jersey.

Watch below and keep an ear out for the fresh cut “Pieces,” by VASSY X Bingo Players X Disco Fries, due out this Friday (Nov. 11).

09 Nov 2022

Sia Continues Her ‘Unstoppable’ Run With 6-Year-Old Hit, But Just How High Can It Go?

This week, Sia‘s “Unstoppable” tops yet another new Billboard chart — six years after it was released.

The anthemic hit, which was on Sia’s 2016 album This Is Acting alongside the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Cheap Thrills,” has found new life over the past year, and this week, it rises 2-1 on the Adult Contemporary airplay chart. Last month, the song topped the Adult Pop Airplay chart too, and it’s so far peaked at No. 28 on the Hot 100.

Just how high can this revived song climb? On the latest Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen below), Katie & Keith discuss its unlikely trajectory and what has driven its “Unstoppable” recent run on our charts.

Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how both Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” and SZA’s “Shirt” make high debuts on the Hot 100, how Taylor Swift’s Midnights logs a second — big! — week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and how the latest expanded reissue of a classic Beatles album returns to the Billboard 200 top 10. We also discuss the Billboard chart legacy of Aaron Carter, the pop star, TV personality and brother of Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, who died over the weekend at age 34.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard‘s senior director of charts Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)

09 Nov 2022

Rihanna’s ‘Lift Me Up’ Debuts at No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart

Rihanna’s long-awaited return yields an immediate chart-topper as “Lift Me Up” debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart dated Nov. 12. The single, from the soundtrack to the Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, gives the superstar her eighth champ on the list.

“Lift” traces its arrival on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, which combines streaming, sales and radio airplay, to 22.6 million official U.S. streams in the week ending Nov. 3, according to Luminate. The sum sparks a No. 1 start on R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs to secure Rihanna’s fifth career leader there. In the same period, the track sold 23,000 downloads and opens at No. 2 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales list. On the airplay front, “Lift” registered 42.6 million in radio audience across all formats. (All airplay, regardless of genre format, contributes to a song’s rank on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.)

The new champ gives Rihanna her eighth No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and her first in more than five years. Here’s a recap of her collection:

Song Title, Artist (if other than Rihanna), Weeks at No. 1, Reached at No. 1
“Take a Bow,” one, Aug. 30, 2008
“Diamonds,” 14, Oct. 20, 2012
“The Monster,” Eminem featuring Rihanna, 13, Nov. 16, 2013
“FourFiveSeconds,” with Ye & Paul McCartney, seven, Feb. 21, 2015
“Work,” featuring Drake, 11, Feb. 13, 2016
“Needed Me,” two, Sept. 24, 2016
“Wild Thoughts,” DJ Khaled featuring Rihanna & Bryson Tiller, seven, July 29, 2017
“Lift Me Up,” one (to date), Nov. 12, 2022

Elsewhere, “Lift Me Up,” likewise debuts at No. 1 on the Hot R&B Songs chart, where the superstar lands her sixth champ. The achievement extends her record as the female artist with the most No. 1s on the list, which began in 2012. Overall, Rihanna ranks third in the count, behind The Weeknd (nine) and Drake (seven).

On the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, “Lift” enters at No. 2.

Echoing its strong out-of-the-gate streaming and sales placements, the song also remains a force on multiple radio genre formats after the first full tracking week, which runs Monday – Sunday, following the song’s Oct. 28 release. It ascends 27-16 on Rhythmic Airplay, 24-18 on Adult Pop Airplay, 25-20 on Pop Airplay and 26-22 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. Plus, it repeats at No. 17 on Adult Contemporary.

09 Nov 2022

The 1975’s Matt Healy Eats Raw Meat Onstage: Watch

The 1975 frontman Matty Healy brought out an unusual snack while onstage at the band’s New York show: raw meat. The British singer pulled out a slab of red meat while performing at Madison Square Garden, causing a major spectacle.

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A shirtless Healy devoured the meat before getting on his knees and crawling across the stage.

The spectacle was not new for fans of The 1975, who are used to Healy’s onstage antics. Even Healy’s mother, actress Denise Welch, tweeted that she witnessed his bizarre behavior as well. “I saw it too,” she wrote with three cry-laughing emojis in response to a journalist who tweeted: “There is no way I could possibly explain to my 18-year-old self that I just watched Matty Healy grope himself onstage and eat a raw steak before crawling into a television.”

It wasn’t just viewers in New York that got to see the act: The concert was broadcast on Twitch as a part of an Amazon Music UK event.

The band is currently on tour after releasing its fifth studio album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language, last month. The Madison Square Garden show is just the tour’s third stop since beginning Nov. 3 in Connecticut. The North American leg of the band’s tour will end in Pittsburgh on Dec. 17.

Watch a safe-for-work version of the video below:

09 Nov 2022

Britney Spears Dismisses the Idea of a Biopic About Her Life: ‘Dude I’m Not Dead!!!’

On Tuesday (Nov. 8), Britney Spears put to rest any speculation of a biopic about her life and career coming anytime soon.

“Yeah I know I’ve posted too much this week on Instagram… kinda fun though !!! Now that I’m breathing … I have time … it’s different !!! I like it !!!” she posted alongside an artsy photo of a set of doors. “I hear about people wanting to do movies about my life … dude I’m not dead !!!”

Without naming names, the “Hold Me Closer” singer’s thoughts on a potential movie adaptation of her life came hours after Millie Bobby Brown claimed that playing Spears would be her dream role in an interview on The Drew Barrymore Show. “I think her story, first of all, resonates with me,” the 18-year-old Stranger Things actress said on the show. “Growing up in the public eye, watching her videos, watching interviews of her when she was young…And I don’t know her, but when I look at pictures of her, I feel like I could tell her story in the right way — and hers only.”

However, after shooting down the possibility of a biopic, Spears immediately turned her ire on her parents, Jamie and Lynne Spears, over keeping her in the legal conservatorship that controlled her life for 13 years. “Although it’s pretty f—ing clear they preferred me dead,” she continued in her lengthy caption followed by a series of eye-rolling emojis. “I guess my family is going to lock their doors now.”

Meanwhile, if Spears isn’t down to work with her, Brown still has her secret collaborations with pal Mariah Carey to focus on, having hinted on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon recently that she’s already recorded music with the Elusive Chanteuse herself.

Read Britney’s latest Instagram post in full below.

09 Nov 2022

Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s ‘Despacito’ Hits 8 Billion Views on YouTube

With 8 billion views, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee‘s “Despacito” extends its reign as the most-viewed music video on YouTube — by a long shot.

The closest competitor to the nearly five-minute clip for the 2017 smash hit is Ed Sheeran‘s “Shape of You,” which has raked in 5.8 billion views.

“Who would of thought that a melody over my guitar that morning in my house would be listened to in so many places, by so many people,” Fonsi wrote on social media celebrating the song’s new milestone. “It’s been almost six years and I still can’t believe it. The words THANK YOU don’t cover it. 8 billion views, sounds so nice.”

Fonsi continued thanking those who made it all possible, including Daddy Yankee, Justin Bieber who jumped on the remix, his co-writer Erika Ender, producers Andrés Torres and Mauricio Rengifo and video director Carlos Pérez, to name a few, and his island of Puerto Rico, where they filmed the video, featuring former Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera.

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“Despacito,” released via Universal Music Latino in January 2017, is the gift that keeps on giving. Four months after the music video made its debut on YouTube, it hit the 1 billion mark back when it got a boost from a bilingual remix that featured Bieber.

Five years ago in May, the remix with Bieber reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made global history. Furthermore, “Despacito” topped the Hot Latin Songs chart for a record 56 (non-consecutive) weeks, spending the most weeks at No. 1 for any title since the chart’s inception in 1986.

09 Nov 2022

Alabama’s 40 Biggest Billboard Hits, From ‘Tennessee River’ to ‘Old Alabama’

As previously reported, Jeff Cook, of cornerstone country group Alabama, died Tuesday (Nov. 8) at age 73 at his home in Destin, Fla., according to Don Murry Grubbs, a representative for the band.

The band became an unprecedented force on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, amassing 33 No. 1s – the most among duos or groups – among 51 top 10s between 1980 and 2011.

The group – with Cook, on guitar, fiddle, keyboards and backing vocals, and his cousins Randy Owen (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Teddy Gentry (bass, backing vocals) its longest-running members, dating to its 1969 formation in Fort Payne, Ala. – first topped Hot Country Songs with its first top 10, “Tennessee River,” in August 1980. Starting with the song, the band rattled off a record 21 No. 1s in a row (counting proper, non-seasonal singles) through 1987, highlighting its signature mix of rollicking core-country, pop-rock touches and affecting ballads.

Alabama also scored crossover success, notching five top 10s on the Adult Contemporary chart. On the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, the band tallied three top 20 hits, as well as its No. 29-peaking 1999 collaboration with *NSYNC, an update of the latter’s “God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You.”

Alabama added its 33rd Hot Country Songs leader as featured on Brad Paisley’s 2011 tribute track “Old Alabama.” Among all acts, only George Strait (44), Conway Twitty (40), Merle Haggard (38) and Ronnie Milsap (35) have more No. 1s on the ranking.

On Top Country Albums, Alabama has charted 11 No. 1s among 26 top 10s, most recently reaching the top 10 with the No. 2-peaking Southern Drawl in 2015. Two years earlier, Alabama & Friends reached No. 2, with the set sporting covers of the group’s classics by stars including Kenny Chesney, Florida Georgia Line and Trisha Yearwood.

Just last month, Alabama hit the Country Digital Song Sales chart with its 1983 Hot Country Songs No. 1 “Dixieland Delight,” sparked by the song’s prominent part in the celebration of the University of Tennessee football team’s triumph Oct. 15.

Here is a recap of Alabama’s most successful singles on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart. The group’s 1989 No. 1 “High Cotton” tops the tally. “We were walkin’ in high cotton,” Owen sings in the song, which echoes the band’s musical legacy. “Old times there are not forgotten. Those fertile fields are never far away.”

Alabama’s 40 Biggest Billboard Hits:

1, “High Cotton,” No. 1 (one week), 1989
2, “Down Home,” No. 1 (three weeks), 1991
3, “Forever’s as Far as I’ll Go,” No. 1 (one week), 1991
4, “Jukebox in My Mind,” No. 1 (four weeks), 1990
5, “Dixieland Delight,” No. 1 (one week), 1983
6, “Love in the First Degree,” No. 1 (two weeks), 1981
7, “Feels So Right,” No. 1 (two weeks), 1981
8, “Fallin’ Again,” No. 1 (one week), 1988
9, “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas,” No. 1 (one week), 1984
10, “Can’t Keep a Good Man Down,” No. 1 (one week), 1985

11, “Lady Down on Love,” No. 1 (one week), 1983
12, “There’s No Way,” No. 1 (one week), 1985
13, “Song of the South,” No. 1 (one week), 1989
14, “40 Hour Week (For a Livin’),” No. 1 (one week), 1985
15, “Old Flame,” No. 1 (one week), 1981
16, “Face to Face,” No. 1 (one week), 1988
17, “The Closer You Get,” No. 1 (one week), 1983
18, “Take Me Down,” No. 1 (one week), 1982
19, “If I Had You,” No. 1 (one week), 1989
20, “She and I,” No. 1 (one week), 1986

21, “Reckless,” No. 1 (one week), 1993
22, “Why Lady Why,” No. 1 (one week), 1980
23, “I’m in a Hurry (And Don’t Know Why),” No. 1 (two weeks), 1992
24, “Tennessee River,” No. 1 (one week), 1980
25, “‘You’ve Got’ The Touch,” No. 1 (one week), 1987
26, “Mountain Music,” No. 1 (one week), 1982
27, “Touch Me When We’re Dancing,” No. 1 (one week), 1986
28, “Close Enough to Perfect,” No. 1 (one week), 1982
29, “Southern Star,” No. 1 (one week), 1990
30, ” (There’s A) Fire in the Night,” No. 1 (one week), 1985

31, “Old Alabama” (Brad Paisley feat. Alabama), No. 1 (two weeks), 2011
32, “Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler),” No. 1 (one week), 1984
33, “Here We Are,” No. 2, 1991
34, “When We Make Love,” No. 1 (one week), 1984
35, “Hometown Honeymoon,” No. 3, 1993
36, “Pass It On Down,” No. 3, 1990
37, “Take a Little Trip,” No. 2, 1992
38, “Born Country,” No. 2, 1992
39, “Then Again,” No. 4, 1991
40, “Once Upon a Lifetime,” No. 3, 1993

Alabama’s 40 Biggest Billboard Hits recap is based on actual performance on Billboard‘s weekly Hot Country Songs chart. The ranking is based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 having the greatest value and weeks at lower ranks proportionately less. Due to various changes in chart rules and methodology through the years, songs have had reigns at No. 1 and on the chart of varying average lengths. To ensure equitable representation of the biggest hits from all years, certain time frames were weighted to account for the differences in song turnover rates.

08 Nov 2022

Alabama’s Jeff Cook Mourned by Jason Aldean, Travis Tritt & More Country Stars: ‘What an Iconic Sound He Had’

Alabama co-founder Jeff Cook died on Tuesday (Nov. 8) at age 73, and country stars including Jason Aldean and Travis Tritt have turned to social media to honor the late guitarist.

“So sad to hear of the passing of Jeff Cook,” tweeted the “Trouble With a Heartbreak” singer along with a picture of himself and the band. “I spent a lot of my life listening to him play guitar, what an iconic sound he had. I got a chance to perform with him multiple times over the years and I will never forget it.”

Tritt tweeted, “Sending out my deepest condolences to the family, friends and band mates of Jeff Cook from @TheAlabamaBand. Such a great guy [and] one heckuva bass fisherman. He will be truly missed” while Charlie Daniels wrote, “Heaven gained another guitar/fiddle player today. Mom and I were saddened to hear about the passing of @TheAlabamaBand’s Jeff Cook after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. Prayers for his family and many fans.”

Cook’s death was also memorialized on Twitter by both the Academy of Country Music and the CMA Awards, with the former organization pointing out that the musician and his bandmates remain the “most awarded group in ACM Awards history.”

In 2021, Alabama sold the entirety of their recorded music rights catalog to Reservoir Media, including 20 albums released on RCA Nashville from 1980 to 2007.

Read more tributes to the memory of Jeff Cook below.

08 Nov 2022

CMA Awards 2022: How to Watch & Stream From Anywhere

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Country music’s biggest night! Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning will co-host the 56th annual CMA Awards airing live from Nashville on Wednesday (Nov. 9) at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on ABC.

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First-time nominee Lainey Wilson leads the pack with six nominations, including new artist of the year, album of the year and song of the year. Following close behind the “Hold My Halo” singer are Carly Pearce and Chris Stapleton with five nods.

Josh Osborne landed four nominations and Ashley McBryde secured three nods. Carrie Underwood and Luke Combs received multiple nods as well.  

2022 CMA Awards Performers & Presenters

The CMA Awards will open with a tribute to Loretta Lynn performed by Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire and Underwood. Alan Jackson will receive the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, which will include a musical tribute performed by Dierks Bentley, Jon Pardi, Underwood and Wilson.

Some of the collaborative performances include Kelsea Ballerini featuring Kelly Clarkson and Pearce; Brothers Osborne with The War and Treaty; HARDY featuring Wilson; Elle King with The Black Keys; McBryde and Brandy Clark; Caylee Hammack, Pillbox Patti and John Osborne; Thomas Rhett with Katy Perry; Stapleton with Patty Loveless; and Zac Brown Band featuring Jimmie Allen and Marcus King.

Little Big Town, Wynonna Judd, Breland, Jessica Chastain, Mookie Betts, Jordan Davis, Sarah Drew, Rex Lynn, McEntire, Wilson, Jeannie Seely, Michael Shannon, Ben and Erin Napier and Parker McCollum are presenters.

Keep reading for details on ways to watch and stream the show.

How to Watch & Stream the 2022 CMA Awards

The 2022 CMA Awards will broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday. The show is set to air at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on ABC and stream on Hulu the following day.

Whether you’re a cable or satellite user or a cord-cutter, there are a variety of ways to watch and stream the show live and on-demand.

For example, if you don’t already have ABC in your local channel lineup, you can access the channel with an antenna (like this best-seller available at Amazon). Another way to watch: sign into ABC.com (you will need a cable or streaming provider log-in to watch ABC).

Cable and satellite typically take longer to set up, but if you’re pressed for time, streaming is the best option. All you need is internet access to join platforms such as Direct TV Stream, Sling, Fubo TV and Vidgo, all of which offer free trials and/or discounted rates. That means you can watch the 2022 CMAs without paying much (if anything) up front. Streaming from outside of the U.S.? Use ExpressVPN to access ABC and more.  

Hulu starts at $6.99/month and subscribers get to stream the CMA Awards beginning on Thursday. To watch live, upgrade to Hulu + Live TV ($69.99/month) and stream from a TV, computer or another compatible streaming device.

08 Nov 2022

The Legal Beat: Drake Sued Over Fake Vogue Cover – Plus Astroworld, Mariah Carey & More

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: Drake is sued for using a fake Vogue cover story to promote his new album, the sprawling lawsuit over Astroworld passes the one-year mark with no quick end in sight, Mariah Carey beats a lawsuit over “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and much more.

THE BIG STORY: Vogue Isn’t Laughing About Drake’s PR Stunt

A publicity stunt is all fun and games until somebody gets sued.

For the past week, Drake and 21 Savage have been on a media blitz to promote their new album Her Loss, which debuted Friday. The stars appeared on the cover of an issue of Vogue magazine, performed on Saturday Night Live, teased an appearance on NPR’s Tiny Desk and sat for an interview on The Howard Stern Show.

Just one problem: All of those appearances were fake. The Vogue covers were photoshopped onto fake issues distributed around the country (Jennifer Lawrence was on the real October issue); the SNL performance was a spoof, with a high-profile assist from Michael B. Jordan as the fake “host”; NPR quickly confirmed the Tiny Desk show wasn’t happening; and the Stern appearance was an elaborate deepfake.

The whole thing appears to be a publicity stunt, carried out by an artist who doesn’t really need to do promo for his album releases and hasn’t done so in recent years — but would be eagerly invited to actually appear on those outlets if he wanted to go that route.

Case in point: NPR used the stunt as an opportunity to tell the star he was “welcome anytime” on the beloved concert series: “Let’s do it forreal tho.” And Stern laughed the whole thing off, jokingly quipping about the convincing deepfake version of himself: “Whenever I have to visit my mother, I wish I could do this.” No word from SNL, but a show famous for parody is unlikely to be offended.

The same cannot be said for Vogue publisher Condé Nast, which filed a lawsuit against Drake and 21 in New York federal court this week that called the stunt a “flagrant infringement” of the company’s trademark rights, aimed at exploiting the “tremendous value that a cover feature in Vogue magazine carries” without actually securing that honor.

The publisher seemed particularly miffed by Drake’s Instagram post teasing the fake cover story, in which he personally thanked famed Vogue editor Anna Wintour. The infamous magazine editor “had no involvement” with Drake’s album and has “not endorsed it in any way,” Condé’s lawyers wrote.

If the case doesn’t immediately settle with Drake pulling down the images (a strong possibility in any trademark case) Condé’s lawsuit could lead to an interesting debate over parody. Is Drake’s stunt a commentary on the way media outlets like Vogue or SNL (or Billboard, for that matter) team up with celebrities to help them promote their latest offerings? Or is he just exploiting their names to pump sales of his album without actually doing the hard work of a press tour?

The Other Big Story: Astroworld Update

A year on from the deadly disaster at Travis Scott‘s Astroworld festival, Billboard took a deep dive into the status of the sprawling lawsuit that’s been filed by victims.

More than 4,900 legal claims have been filed against Live Nation, Scott and other festival organizers, accusing them of being legally negligent in how they planned and conducted the event. Combined, the cases are seeking billions in damages over the disaster.

With no quick ending in sight, we asked some of the country’s top experts in such cases: Where do things stand? What comes next? And how will it all end? Read the whole thing here.

Other top stories this week…

RECORD LABELS WIN BIG PIRACY VERDICT – A federal jury in Texas ordered internet service provider Grande Communications to pay more than $46 million in damages to the three major record labels and others over music illegally downloaded by the company’s subscribers. The case was one of several filed by music companies against ISPs, aimed at forcing them to take more proactive steps to eliminate piracy on their networks — the same kind of case that ended with a shocking $1 billion verdict against Cox Communications in 2019.

OBSCURE RULE IS BIG WIN FOR SONGWRITERS – As first reported by Billboard last week, the U.S. Copyright Office is quietly proposing a new rule to make sure that songwriters who invoke their termination rights actually get paid their streaming royalties. The rule change would overturn a previous “erroneous” policy by the Mechanical Licensing Collective that critics worried could potentially have kept sending such money to former owners in perpetuity, even after a songwriter has reclaimed their rights. Groups like the Recording Academy and the Songwriters of North America, which lobbied for the rule change, praised it as a win for songwriters.

MARIAH CAREY ‘CHRISTMAS’ ACCUSER DROPS CASE – Vince Vance, a songwriter who sued Mariah Carey over accusations that she stole her “All I Want for Christmas is You” from his earlier song of the same name, dropped his lawsuit over Carey’s 1994 holiday blockbuster. But he dismissed the case “without prejudice,” leaving open the possibility that he could refile the case at some point in the future. If you’re confused why Carey can be sued over a decades-old song, go read our explainer on the issue (spoiler: because the Supreme Court said so!) Though legally dubious, Vance’s case was a big deal simply because Carey’s song is a big deal: It has reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 during each of the past three holiday seasons.

KESHA & DR. LUKE GET A TRIAL DATE – A New York judge scheduled a July trial for Dr. Luke’s defamation lawsuit against Kesha, setting the stage for a courtroom showdown nearly nine years after the case was first filed. A trial had previously been scheduled to start in February, but with key issues in the case still awaiting rulings by a state appeals court, both sides saw that plan as unworkable (and blamed the other for the delay). If you’ve forgotten: Dr. Luke is accusing Kesha of defaming him with a “false and shocking” allegation that he drugged and raped her after a 2005 party.

The best of the rest…

–Kanye West paid a settlement to a former employee who alleged having witnessed more than one incident in which the once-beloved rapper praised Hitler or Nazis in business meetings. In the settlement agreement, West denied the claims made by the former employee. (NBC News)

-The U.S. Supreme Court said it wouldn’t hear music producer Gary “G-Money” Frisby’s copyright suit against Sony Music and rapper Bryson Tiller over beats on Tiller’s album Trapsoul. (Law360)

–Trey Songz won the dismissal of a $20 million sexual assault lawsuit that had been filed, dismissed and then re-filed by a Jane Doe accuser. A judge ruled that the accuser missed a key deadline to respond to Songz’s defense that the statute of limitations on her allegations had expired. (Rolling Stone)