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StubHub must pay more than $16 million in legal damages after a jury decided that the ticketing giant intentionally torpedoed a smaller company’s lucrative concierge partnership with American Express.
Following a month-long trial, a Los Angeles jury on Friday (May 24) sided with Spotlight Ticket Management — a tech startup that had sued over allegations that StubHub failed to pay Spotlight millions in commissions and then used false statements to “poison” the company’s relationship with Amex.
Leading up to the trial, StubHub had argued it paid Spotlight everything that was owed and that the smaller firm had killed its Amex deal itself by being an “unreasonable partner” to the financial giant: “The true cause of Spotlight’s demise was Spotlight itself.”
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But in Friday’s verdict, the jurors found for Spotlight on both issues. They ordered StubHub to pay $3 million over the commissions; $5.3 million over money lost from the terminated Amex partnership; and another $8.1 million that they said Spotlight would have earned from Amex in the future.
StubHub did not immediately return a request for comment. Amex was not named as a defendant in the case or accused of any wrongdoing. In a statement, Spotlight called the verdict “a victory for Spotlight, for affiliate partners more broadly, and for ticket purchasers across the country.”
Launched in 2007, Spotlight offers ticketing management software to help companies provide event access to their employees or customers. One of its major clients was Amex, which used Spotlight as part of its concierge system to buy concert and sports tickets for premium cardholders.
In its lawsuit, Spotlight claimed that it had successfully partnered with StubHub for years, sending as much as $85 million in ticket sales to the company’s platform and receiving a 7% commission on those sales.
But starting in 2016, Spotlight claimed that StubHub began underpaying those commissions. And when the smaller company raised the dispute, it claimed that StubHub retaliated by tanking its relationship with Amex with false and disparaging claims.
“StubHub gave Amex an ‘ultimatum’ that it could not work with Spotlight for these reasons and Amex would lose access to StubHub’s entire ticket inventory, crushing the availability of secondary market tickets to the Amex Concierge program overnight, unless Amex got rid of Spotlight,” the company’s attorneys wrote in a pre-trial briefing.
StubHub sharply disagreed. In its own filings, the company argued that it had paid Spotlight all the commissions that it was actually owed under its affiliate program. And it said that the smaller company had “destroyed its own relationship with Amex” through “erratic behavior.”
“Spotlight has taken a modest dispute about payment of affiliate commissions and morphed it into a conspiratorial web to support its claim for hundreds of millions of dollars,” StubHub’s attorneys wrote. “Amex witnesses have testified that they decided not to renew based on Spotlight’s unreasonable demands and that StubHub had nothing to do with Amex’s decision.”
But following a three-week trial, jurors believed Spotlight’s version of events, finding StubHub liable for breach of contract over the unpaid commissions as well as intentional interference with contract and intentional interference with prospective economic relations over the Amex partnership.
StubHub can appeal the verdict, first by asking the judge to order a new trial and then by taking the case to a California appeals court.
Cher has won her lawsuit against Sonny Bono’s widow over royalties to “I Got You Babe” and other hits after a federal judge ruled that Mary Bono must continue paying the superstar her cut under the couple’s decades-old divorce settlement.
More than 20 years after Sonny’s death, Mary argued that she no longer needed to pay royalties to Cher thanks to copyright law’s so-called termination right — a provision of federal law that allows songwriters and their heirs to win back control of their intellectual property rights decades after they gave them away.
But in a decision issued Wednesday (May 29), Judge John A. Kronstadt ruled that the federal termination rules do not trump Sonny and Cher’s 1978 divorce settlement, which gave the singer a permanent 50% cut of the publishing revenue from songs written before the couple split up.
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The ruling means that Cher will continue to receive publishing royalties for her catalog of songs created with Sonny, including “The Beat Goes On” and “Baby Don’t Go.” According to Wednesday’s ruling, more than $400,000 in royalties owed to Cher have piled up since the dispute began.
Neither side’s attorneys immediately returned requests for comment.
Sonny and Cher started performing together in 1964 and married in 1967, rising to fame with major hits like “I Got You Babe,” “The Beat Goes On” and “Baby Don’t Go.” But the pair split up in 1974, finalizing their divorce with a settlement in 1978. Under that deal, Sonny retained ownership of their music rights, but Cher was granted a half-share of all publishing royalties in perpetuity.
That agreement stayed in effect for years, including after Bono died in a 1998 skiing accident. But in 2016, Mary and other heirs invoked the termination right, seeking to take back control of Sonny’s copyrights from his publishers. And in 2021, they informed Cher that they would soon stop paying royalties under the earlier agreement.
Cher quickly sued, seeking a ruling that she was still owed her 50% cut regardless of who owns the copyrights since a federal copyright provision had no bearing on a state-law asset settlement. Mary fired back a few months later, claiming that termination rights could not be waived by contract and that Cher’s arguments would “subvert” the purpose of the law.
In Wednesday’s ruling, Judge Kronstadt sided with Cher’s arguments. He ruled that the divorce settlement with Sonny gave Cher a “contractual right to receive financial compensation,” rather than the kind of control over his copyrights that could be voided using the termination right: “A right to receive royalties is distinct from a grant of copyright,” the judge wrote.
DMX’s estate has a new partner. The late rapper’s family has selected Artist Legacy Group (ALG) as the estate’s exclusive and global representative, according to an announcement today by ALG CEO Ashley Austin.
“A force of nature. That is how I would describe DMX,” Austin said of the artist, born Earl Simmons, who died in 2021 at 50. “Rapper, poet, actor, preacher—the man’s talent was truly limitless. I am honored to work alongside Desiree and Sasha as we maximize the estate’s potential. Together, we will ensure that his message and music lives on.”
The co-administrators of the estate, DMX’s fiancée Desiree Lindstrom and daughter Sasha Simmons, are confident ALG can continue the hard-hitting MC’s legacy.
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“Earl was devoted to his fans. He was grateful that they stayed by his side and walked with him through his ups and downs,” explained Lindstrom. “Sasha and I are confident that ALG is the right team to partner with to honor Earl’s music and legacy. For my son and all of Earl’s children and fans, we will keep Earl’s spirit alive.”
Sasha Simmons added, “My father, Earl, was more than an icon; he was my inspiration and guiding light. His music touched countless lives, and his legacy will forever resonate in our hearts. With ALG by our side, Desiree and I are committed to preserving his spirit, ensuring that his art continues to inspire generations to come.”
With his signature growl and underdog story, DMX made his mark on hip-hop over the years with six top 10s on Rap Airplay, including “What You Want” and “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem,” as well as the six-week No. 1 “Party Up (Up in Here).” He recently made his Mainstream Rock Airplay debut with a featured role on Five Finger Death Punch’s “This Is the Way,” a mash-up between DMX’s “The Way It’s Gonna Be” and FFDP’s “Judgement Day.”
The family and Artist Legacy Group are working on “innovative projects” for fans, industry insiders, and music enthusiasts worldwide, according to a press release. ALG is a renowned entertainment management and legacy preservation firm that provides comprehensive services for estates, including intellectual property management, brand partnerships, media projects and more. Some of the other acts on their roster include Sam Cook, The Blues Brothers, Iggy Pop, Bootsy Collins, John Belushi and Dean Martin.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a series of executive promotions as part of an organization-wide effort to unite teams on Wednesday (May 29). “As the Academy evolves, we are bringing teams together to create a better sense of shared purpose across the organization,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer said in a statement.
Amy Homma has been appointed director and president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. In her new role, Homma will lead the strategic creative vision of the Academy Museum. She succeeds film scholar and TCM host Jacqueline Stewart, who is returning to her faculty position at the University of Chicago. Homma will report to the museum’s board of trustees and Academy CEO Kramer.
Homma has been with the Academy Museum for five years and is currently the museum’s chief audience officer. She previously served as the Academy Museum’s vice president of education and public engagement.
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Jennifer Davidson has been promoted to the newly-created role of chief marketing and communications officer, effective June 1. In this expanded role, she will oversee marketing and audience development, communications, digital/social and creative brand strategy for all arms of the Academy, including the Academy Foundation, Academy Museum and the Oscars.
Davidson has served as chief communications officer since December 2021.
Jenny Galante has been promoted to the newly-created role of chief revenue officer, effective June 1. In this role, Galante will drive diversified and global revenue growth for all arms of the Academy, including the Academy Foundation and Academy Museum. She will continue to oversee strategic brand partnerships, including Oscars sponsors and advertisers, and lead efforts for Academy100, a $500 million global revenue diversification and outreach campaign the Academy publicly launched in early May.
Galante, who joined the Academy staff in 2013, most recently held the position of executive vice president, revenue and business development and served as senior vice president, business development.
Matt Severson, director of the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library, has been promoted to the newly-created position of executive vice president, Academy collection and preservation, effective July 1. He will oversee all collections, archival, preservation, registration, conservation and cataloging work of the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy Film Archive and Academy Museum. This role centers, for the first time, all collections and preservation efforts for the entire 23 million-item Academy Collection.
Severson began his Academy career in 1997 in the Photograph Archive. He became head of the Photograph Archive in 2009 before becoming the head of the Margaret Herrick Library in 2018. He recently edited the Academy Museum exhibition catalog Agnés Varda: Director’s Inspiration, published by the Academy and DelMonico Books last year.
Previously, Severson reported to Randy Haberkamp, executive vice president, Library, Archive and SciTech, who will retire from the Academy on Aug. 2 after 23 years. Haberkamp will continue in a consultant role with the Academy until next spring.
Ryan Castro won a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in an arbitration process against King Records, owned by fellow Colombian artist Kevin Roldán, for breach of contract. According to a resolution by a Colombian judge, the arbitration tribunal ruled that King Records must pay Castro an amount exceeding $2 million. In addition to this, the ruling grants the […]
Singer-songwriter-actress Tanerélle has signed with Republic Records. In tandem with that exclusive announcement, the R&B outlier is set to release her label debut, the EP Electric Honey, this Friday (May 31). “Tanerélle is a forward-thinking artist with a well-defined vision, sonically and aesthetically,” says Ken Jarvis, Republic’s senior director of A&R. “Working with an artist who is […]
Draco Rosa and his company Phantom Vox have established an alliance with La Buena Fortuna Global, an artist management, booking and event production company with a focus on promoting Puerto Rican talent internationally, Billboard Español can announce. The agreement is aimed at expanding Rosa’s career internationally. “It is with deep emotion that I share a […]
K-pop giant HYBE sold a portion of its stake in rival South Korean music group SM Entertainment worth $50 million, or roughly 3% of the company, according to a filing made public on Tuesday (May 28). Though it sold roughly 755,500 shares worth 68.4 billion Korean won, HYBE still owns some 2.2 million shares comprising […]
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: The federal government files an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster aimed at breaking up the concert giant; Beyoncé faces a copyright lawsuit over a sample featured in “Break My Soul”; Elvis Presley’s heirs win a bizarre battle over Graceland; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: “It Is Time To Break It Up”
Fourteen years after federal regulators allowed Live Nation and Ticketmaster to merge into a concert behemoth, the U.S. Department of Justice and dozens of states filed a long-awaited antitrust lawsuit last week that aims to effectively reverse that decision.“Live Nation has illegally monopolized markets across the live concert industry in the United States for far too long,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland at a press conference announcing the case. “It is time to break it up.”Ever since the merger was approved in 2010, Live Nation has faced criticism over its huge market share. But scrutiny increased dramatically following the disastrous 2022 rollout of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which saw widespread service delays and website crashes. While the DOJ had already launched its probe prior to the Swift incident, the debacle sparked widespread public anger that led to Congressional hearings, private antitrust lawsuits, and repeated calls to break up the company.In a lawsuit aimed at doing just that, the DOJ focused on what it called Live Nation’s “flywheel model” — an alleged cycle of reaping revenue from ticketbuyers, using it to sign artists into promotion deals, and then leveraging that repertoire to lock venues into exclusive ticketing contracts. To bolster that model, the feds say Live Nation engaged in a wide range of anticompetitive conduct, including acquiring rivals and retaliating against venues that didn’t use Ticketmaster. In particular, the DOJ focused on emails between Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino and venue management firm Oak View Group, a “potential competitor-turned-partner” that allegedly helped Live Nation stifle competition.For all the details, go read our full coverage on the Live Nation lawsuit — including our news story on the filing of the case (featuring the actual complaint filed by the DOJ) as well as a deep dive from Dave Brooks into those emails from Rapino. And stay tuned for more coverage from Billboard as the big case moves forward…
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Other top stories this week…
BEYONCÉ COPYRIGHT CASE – The superstar was hit with an infringement lawsuit over her chart-topping 2024 hit “Break My Soul,” filed by a little-known group that claims one of the song’s prominent samples — a clip taken from the New Orleans rapper Big Freedia — had itself illegally lifted lyrics from their earlier song.GRACELAND SNAFU ENDS – A bizarre legal battle over “fraudulent” efforts to sell Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion came to close after a Tennessee judge granted his granddaughter Riley Keough a court order blocking the looming foreclosure before the mysterious loan company that orchestrated the event reportedly withdrew its filings. But the story isn’t over, as Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti launched an investigation into potential “misconduct” by the shadowy creditors behind the incident: “My office has fought fraud against homeowners for decades and there is no home in Tennessee more beloved than Graceland.”DIDDY SUED FACES 7TH ACCUSER – Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing yet another sexual abuse lawsuit, this time filed by a woman named April Lampros who claims that he drugged and sexually assaulted her 30 years ago while she was a college student in New York City. Lampros is the seventh alleged victim to file a lawsuit accusing Combs of sexual abuse over the past six months, including one filed just days prior. He’s also facing an apparent federal criminal investigation.EARTH, WIND & DAMAGES – A tribute act that called itself “Earth, Wind & Fire Legacy Reunion” will pay the legendary R&B group $750,000 in damages for using its trademarked name in ways that a federal judge called “deceptive and misleading,” according to court documents filed last week. ASTROWORLD LITIGATION UPDATE – Attorneys for Travis Scott, Live Nation and others reached a settlement to resolve the last remaining wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the deadly crowd crush at the 2021 Astroworld music festival, which left 10 fans dead. But thousands of claims from injured fans remain pending, with a potential first trial set for October.APPLE APPEALS HUGE EU FINE – Apple launched a legal challenge in European Union court against the 1.8 billion euro ($1.95 billion) fine assessed by the European Commission earlier this year over allegations that the tech giant broke competition laws by unfairly favoring its own music streaming service over rivals like Spotify.KELLY CLARKSON SETTLES WITH EX – The singer reached a settlement to end her sprawling legal battle with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock over management commissions. The divorce itself was finalized in 2022, but the pair had continued to battle in court over tricky business entanglements with Blackstock’s father’s firm Starstruck Entertainment, which managed her career for years.
Nashville music publishing executive Linda Patterson “Pat” Rolfe, who became one of the first women to lead a major music publishing company in the early 1970s, died of cancer on Friday (May 24) at age 77.
Rolfe, a Waverly, Tenn., native, was born July 27, 1946. She graduated from Waverly Central High School in 1964 and moved to Nashville, launching her music industry career in 1966 at music publishing company Hill & Range. While at the company — which became a dominant music publishing player in country music in the 1950s and 1960s — she joined Lamar Fike, a member of Elvis Presley‘s entourage who worked in lighting and helped oversee Presley’s music publishing. She also worked on hit songs by Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Eddy Arnold and bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe.
Rolfe was elevated to a leadership role at Hill & Range — rare for a woman executive in that era — when she was named GM at Hill & Range in 1972. She also brought Celia Froehlig into the company fold, with both staying on until Chappell Music acquired the Hill & Range companies in 1975. Froehlig would go on to hold senior roles at EMI Music Publishing and Black River Entertainment.
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Following the acquisition, Rolfe continued at Chappell Music, which was named ASCAP publisher of the year seven times during her tenure. She rose to the role of vp and held that role until 1987, when Warner Bros. Music acquired the company.
That same year, longtime ASCAP Nashville head Connie Bradley offered Rolfe a position as director of membership relations. While at the performing rights organization, Rolfe rose to the role of vp, bringing such songwriters and singer-songwriters as Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, Wynonna Judd, Tony Mullins, Trevor Rosen, Hillary Lindsey, Gerry House, Josh Kear, Michael Knox and Chris Tompkins into the fold. She retired in 2010.
In 1991, seeking to further elevate women in the music industry, Rolfe teamed with Judy Harris and Shelia Shipley Biddy to co-found SOURCE, a nonprofit organization that supports women professionals in the Nashville music industry. She was inducted into the SOURCE Hall of Fame in 2012.
“We are heartbroken over the loss of one of our beloved Founding SOURCE members Pat Rolfe,” said SOURCE Nashville president Kari Barnhart in a statement. “Pat’s heart for recognizing and elevating the Women Behind the Music is a legacy that will continue to live on through the organization she lovingly helped build with our other founding members Judy Harris and Shelia Shipley-Biddy over 33 years ago. Pat remained dedicated to the organization as a member of the Source Awards Committee through the years.”
Rolfe also served on the boards of organizations including the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), Nashville Music Association and Copyright Society of the South.
Rolfe is survived by her husband of 54 years, Mack, as well as stepchildren John (Vanessa), Jim (Mary K) and Dick (Michelle); seven grandchildren; brothers Jim, Mike, Joe and Charlie Patterson; and sister Margaret Simmons. She was preceded in death by her parents, Marie and George Patterson, her brother Jerry Patterson and sister-in-law Ann Patterson.
A visitation with the family will be held on Wednesday (May 29) from 9:30 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. at Green Hills Community Church in Nashville, with the funeral service set to begin at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations go to the Bonaparte’s Retreat Dog Rescue, the Green Hills Community Church or a charity of your choosing.