State Champ Radio Author: djfrosty
Page: 94
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ABKCO, a music company that owns The Rolling Stones‘ early catalog, has brought a lawsuit against Behr Paint over an Instagram advertisement that allegedly used an unlicensed version of the band’s “Paint It, Black,” which ABKCO calls “one of the most valuable copyrights in the history of popular music.”
The copyright infringement case, filed on Wednesday (Nov. 12) in federal court, centers on a 2022 Instagram ad for Behr that showed a person spray-painting furniture while “Paint It, Black” played in the background. ABKCO claims Behr didn’t pay for the track.
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While individual social media users can soundtrack their videos for free with songs covered by blanket licenses, companies are required to buy so-called sync licenses for music in commercial advertisements. ABKCO’s lawsuit says it regularly sells sync licenses for “Paint It, Black” — and collects fees ranging from the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars for the song, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966.
“Behr’s commercial use of the ABKCO recording has forced a business association upon ABKCO that has harmed its ability to license the ABKCO recording to Behr’s competitors that would pay for the use of the ABKCO recording,” writes lawyer Benjamin Akley of Pryor Cashman. “Clearly, the ABKCO recording is not only iconic, it has unique and particular value to a paint company seeking to promote its paint products.”
According to the lawsuit, ABKCO didn’t learn about the 2022 ad until this past summer. ABKCO’s attorneys allegedly notified Behr, leading the paint company to take down the video, though the company “was unwilling to engage in further dialogue concerning its unauthorized use,” the lawsuit claims.
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ABKCO claims Behr is a “sophisticated, multi-billion-dollar corporation” that knows the rules around sync licenses, yet it “inexplicably” chose not to follow those rules here. Now, the lawsuit is seeking financial penalties for Behr’s alleged copyright infringement.
“As a result of the aforementioned acts of infringement, ABKCO has suffered significant damages,” reads the complaint.
Reps for Behr did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit on Thursday (Nov. 13).
Source: Hindustan Times / Getty
Akon had a little run-in with the law recently that landed him in jail for a hot second.
Konvict Music’s own reportedly had a warrant out for his arrest due to a suspended license, according to TMZ. Back in September, Akon was cruising around Atlanta in his Cybertruck when police found his whip sitting in the middle of the road. He claimed the battery died, which is why it was left there.
Police stated that they called for a tow truck to get the Soul Survivor artist’s car out of the road, and during that process discovered his license was suspended. That left Akon with a citation for driving around Georgia with a suspended license. Officers on the scene also reported they found “an illegal vape in the center console, which was seized during the inventory and submitted for destruction.”
The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office confirmed he was arrested last Thursday and released six hours later. Akon was taken into custody by the Chamblee Police Department on an out-of-county warrant. Neither Akon nor his team has made any official statements regarding the arrest. Shortly after, a mugshot surfaced online, and the internet began trolling him.
Before this arrest, Akon had been staying low-key and moving in silence. Recently, he denied the rumors about putting a pause on Akon City, saying, “The project is still moving forward.”
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Ray J is bringing a bombshell countersuit against Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner, accusing them of intentionally releasing the infamous sex tape with him that launched Kim’s career — and then “peddling the false story” that it was leaked.
A month after the mother and daughter pair sued the singer for defamation over his allegation that they were facing a criminal racketeering investigation, Ray J hit back hard — claiming to reveal the true backstory behind his and Kardashian’s legendary sex tape.
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“Mother and daughter have spent two decades peddling the false story that the sex tape that Kardashian filmed [Ray J] was leaked against her will,” writes Ray J’s attorney, Howard King, in a countersuit submitted in Los Angeles court Thursday (Nov. 13) and obtained by Billboard. “They are furious that Norwood no longer wants to play along with their tall tale.”
The reality, Ray J claims, is that Kardashian and Jenner arranged the entire thing, doing so after seeing how the non-consensual release of Paris Hilton’s sextape had led to “meteoric international attention” for her. “Kardashian aspired to even greater fame,” Ray J says.
In a statement to Billboard, Kardashian and Jenner’s attorney, Alex Spiro, fired back at Ray J’s claims: “After realizing he is losing the case and losing his way, this disjointed rambling distraction is not intimidating anyone. Ray J will lose this frivolous case too.”
According to the lawsuit, after signing a deal with the porn company Vivid Entertainment, Jenner and Kardashian agreed with the studio that they would file “a bogus lawsuit” against Vivid claiming the leak was non-consensual “to create buzz ahead of the tape’s release.” The case was actually filed and later settled, but he says it was all a ruse.
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“These were lies,” Ray J’s lawyers write. “Vivid and Kardashian ‘leaked’ to TMZ that they ‘settled’ for $5 million. There was no such settlement.”
Such allegations have been made in the past, including by journalist Ian Halperin in his 2016 book Kardashian Dynasty, in which he claimed that the family had been involved in the leak. But Jenner and Kardashian have steadfastly denied the allegation ever since.
Ray J’s case comes in the form of a breach of contract lawsuit — claiming that Jenner and Kardashian violated a settlement deal they struck with him in 2021 over statements about the sex tape.
During a 2021 episode of The Kardashians, the mother and daughter “falsely accused” him of “sexually assaulting Kardashian while she was asleep, releasing revenge porn, and extortion,” the lawsuit says. After Ray J “initiated legal proceedings” over those statements, the Kardashians allegedly agreed to a settlement that would pay him $6 million and ban any further mention of the tape on the show.
But then the Kardashians violated the deal “almost immediately,” repeatedly discussing the tape during the following season of The Kardashians, the lawsuit reads. When Ray J’s lawyers raised the issue, he says they told him that the settlement only covered the earlier season of the show.
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With the two sides headed for a dispute in private arbitration, Ray J says Kardashian and Jenner instead chose to file their “meritless lawsuit” to “exact retribution” on him. “Norwood will not allow Kardashian and Jenner to weaponize the judicial system, shirk their contractual obligations, and sacrifice him on the altar of fame,” the lawsuit reads.
The original lawsuit, filed last month, came a week after Ray J claimed on a social media livestream that federal authorities were investigating the Kardashian clan under the Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act — the same charges filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs. “The feds is coming,” he said at one point, before adding: “It’s worse than Diddy.”
“Ray J’s public statements are blatantly false,” Spiro wrote in the Oct. 1 lawsuit. “No such federal investigation exists; no law enforcement agency has initiated any criminal proceedings or investigations related to racketeering charges against Ms. Kardashian or Ms. Jenner; and no credible evidence whatsoever supports these inflammatory allegations.”
The lawsuit claimed that Ray J’s comments were just “the latest salvo in a deliberate and malicious campaign of harassment and defamation intended to defame plaintiffs while reviving his own fading notoriety.”
“I’m very aware of mysterious forces at play that I will never have any control of,” she says in the trailer.
11/13/2025
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The Weeknd has donated $350,000 from his XO Humanitarian Fund to relief efforts in Jamaica following the devastation of Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean.
The music titan’s donation will benefit the World Food Programme — The Weeknd is a WFP ambassador — as the WFP looks to scale its operation and assist in helping a target of 200,000 Jamaicans who were impacted by the Category 5 storm.
“We are grateful to The Weeknd for his generous support for WFP’s urgent relief efforts. His compassion will provide much-needed comfort and resilience to Jamaicans as they navigate this crisis,” said Barron Segar, World Food Program USA President and CEO, in a statement. “When it comes to humanitarian disasters, WFP is among the world’s first responders. But our work is only possible through the generosity of our private sector donors and global partners.”
The WFP has been working alongside the Jamaican government to bring aide to citizens and they’ve helped more than 9,000 people by sending in food kits. Between Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba, the WFP has assisted about 254,000 people with emergency food distribution as of press time.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in late October and the strongest tropical storm of 2025 so far has impacted nearly six million Caribbean citizens.
The Weeknd is no stranger to humanitarian efforts as he’s donated more than $10 million to various causes since 2020. He pledged $1 million to relief efforts following the L.A. wildfires in January.
Jamaican legend Shaggy has also been a major part of relief efforts for his home country. He mobilized private flights for citizens in danger and sent food aid to those starving due to the storm earlier in November.
“People are homeless,” Shaggy told Rolling Stone of the precarious living situation. “There’s no running water, there’s no electricity, there’s no shelter. They were sleeping on the streets. We came in last night, we gave out water, we gave out food. There are actually bodies trapped in homes that people haven’t been able to clear.”
Announced Wednesday and led by Sean Paul, Shaggy and Kes, a Jamaica Strong benefit concert will take place Dec. 12 at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York. Additional confirmed performers include Chronic Law, T.O.K, Tessane Chin, Aidonia, Inner Circle, Ky-Mani Marley, Teejay, Richie Stephens, Gramps Morgan, and Mikey Spice, with more artists yet to be announced.
Trending on Billboard Wale says he remembers one time that J. Cole got furious while on Jay-Z‘s Blueprint 3 tour. In an interview with Uproxx’s Sound Check, Wale was asked to share a memory from The Blueprint 3 tour that went down back in 2009. Wale recalled that while J. Cole is all peaceful now, […]
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Whatever has been ailing Dolly Parton is nothing that a bestselling book can’t fix. The superstar, dressed in a black leather top and pants adorned with glittery silver and gold stars, was out and about this week touting her new book, Star of the Show: My Life on Stage.
Parton made the rounds in Nashville following the book’s Tuesday release, posting on Instagram her stops at Barnes & Noble, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Costco and Target, where she was making sure her newest release was front and center. She even tried some tasty treats at Costco, and then at Target jokingly used the book as a weight, hoisting it up in the air a few times, jokingly declaring, “This is heavy. This is how I built up my chest.”
Written with Billboard Country Update editor Tom Roland, the book celebrates Parton’s nearly 60-year career as an entertainer. It is the third in a trilogy, following Songteller, which focused on her lyrics, and Behind the Seams, which highlighted her fashion. Star of the Show features more than 500 photos, stories about her decades of touring and a list of all her performances.
Parton made news in September when she postponed her December dates at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to September 2026, telling fans, “As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures. As I joked with them, it must be time for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon!”
Concern for Parton hit overdrive in October after her sister Freida posted on social media that she had been “up all night praying for my sister, Dolly,” adding “Godspeed, my sissy Dolly.” The next day Parton posted a video suggesting her health issues were of no great import. “I know lately, everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am … do I look sick to you?! I’m workin’ hard here,” she said, dressed to the nines in a red top and black pants. She stressed she wanted to put “everyone’s mind at ease… I’m OK. I’ve got some problems that I mentioned,” adding that she didn’t take care of herself while she was tending to her sick husband, Carl, who died in March. She added she was having “a few treatments here and there” at Vanderbilt’s Medical Center but stressed “I am okay…. I don’t think God is through with me and I ain’t done working.”
This Sunday, Parton will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Oscars’ annual Governors Awards in Los Angeles. The award is given “to an individual in the motion picture arts and sciences whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry by promoting human welfare and contributing to rectifying inequities,” according to the the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The award recognizes Parton for her decades-long humanitarian efforts, including the Dollywood Foundation, which inspires the children of East Tennessee — her home state — to achieve educational success, as well as her Imagination Library, which provides pre-school children with a book a month.
Trending on Billboard As Liam Payne pursued a solo music career after his One Direction days, Taylor Swift was there cheering him on behind the scenes. That much is evident in a handwritten note the pop star sent him eight years ago, which is now being auctioned off. As announced by Omega Auctions on Wednesday […]
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On Thursday (Nov. 13), Spotify launched a new tier of its subscription service, Premium Platinum, in India, Indonesia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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The Premium Platinum plan takes the place of Premium Family plans for new subscribers in these markets. Spotify support page in India, for example, notes that the multi-user Premium Family plan “is only available for users that signed up for Premium Family before November 13th, 2025.” (Support pages for the other four markets do not have the same declaration, but Premium Family is no longer listed as an available option for new subscribers on the other countries’ Spotify websites.) A Premium Platinum account can be shared by up to three people, while a Premium Family account can be shared by up to six people.
Premium Platinum includes lossless audio quality (up to 24-bit/44.1kHz), which began rolling out as a standard feature in 50 markets, including the U.S. and U.K., in September. Other features include the ability to mix playlists, a personal AI DJ, AI playlist creation, the ability to connect to DJ software, and, in some markets, audiobook listening.
The prices for Premium Platinum range from 50% to 89% more than Premium Standard. In India, Premium Platinum costs 299 rupees ($3.37) per month, 50% more than Premium Standard’s 199 rupees ($2.29) price tag. In South Africa, Premium Platinum costs 179.99 rand ($10.55) per month, 89% more than Premium Standard’s 94.99 rand ($5.57) price. Platinum includes audiobook listening time in South Africa.
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Spotify offers the same suite of Premium tiers in each of the five markets: The affordable Premium Student, the low-priced Premium Lite, the Premium Standard, and the more expensive Premium Platinum. Features are doled out according to price. Premium Platinum offers the most features and carries the highest price. Premium Lite has the lowest audio quality (up to 160kbps) and does not allow for offline listening to downloaded files. Premium Student and Premium Standard have better audio quality (up to 320kbps) and offer the ability to download files for offline listening.
What Premium Platinum does not include is the kind of “superfan” features that have been discussed by Spotify and record label executives. During Universal Music Group’s Oct. 30 earnings call, CEO Lucian Grainge discussed AI-driven tools that could “revolutionize” how fans interact with music, such as a “sophisticated, highly personalized chatbot.” And earlier on Thursday, Spotify CFO Christian Luiga mentioned “mixing tools” when discussing ways Spotify increases engagement while speaking at the Morgan Stanley European Technology, Media and Telecom Conference.
