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Bob Fead, who held key positions with such powerhouse labels as Liberty Records and A&M Records from the 1960s into the 2000s, died Tuesday (Jan. 2) at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Wasserman Campus in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 89.
Fead was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska — the youngest of four children and the son of a semi-pro baseball player who died at an early age. Fead found work in Omaha selling men’s clothing but had a dream to move west. He soon found himself in Los Angeles working for a shirt company, but a chance meeting at a party with a record executive landed him a promotions job, on the spot, at Liberty Records.
Fead thrived at Liberty and helped drive radio airplay for such artists as Bobby Vee, Gene Pitney, Willie Nelson, Jan and Dean, Del Shannon and Vikki Carr. He worked alongside famed producer (and longtime friend) Snuff Garrett.
After five years at Liberty, Fead was recruited by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss to join them at their fledgling A&M Records, where he eventually rose to senior vp of sales and marketing. While there, Fead worked with such legendary acts as Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66, Quincy Jones, the Carpenters, Cat Stevens and Peter Frampton. As part of a deal that moved manufacturing and distribution to RCA, Fead shifted to RCA to oversee all aspects of sales and distribution for A&M and associated labels.
Fead later launched Alfa Records, a U.S.-based division of Japan’s Alfa Music, and found immediate success with 1960s singing star Lulu, whose “I Could Never Miss You (More Than I Do)” made the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1981. Alfa also put Billy Vera and the Beaters on the map with a pair of Hot 100 hits that same year: “I Can Take Care of Myself” and “At This Moment.” The latter song belatedly reached No. 1 in January 1987 (on Rhino Records) after it was featured on the hit TV series Family Ties.
Fead also served as president of both Monument Records and Michael Nesmith’s Pacific Arts Video. In February 1982, A Pacific Arts Video release, Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts, won a Grammy for video of the year — making it the first Grammy ever awarded for a video.
Fead was next tapped to be president of Famous Music, a division of Paramount Pictures, where he managed music rights related to such classic films as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Godfather and Footloose.
Fead next landed at Warner/Chappell Music, where he managed publishing rights for his old friend, Quincy Jones, and developed a longtime publishing relationship with Burt Bacharach, serving as president of Bacharach’s publishing company.
Bacharach died last February. A&M co-founder Moss died last August, as did Harold Childs, the label’s senior vice president of promotion and sales.
Fead gave his personal time to various philanthropic ventures, including serving as president of the music chapter of City of Hope. He also served as a board member and later became president of Society of Singers, a philanthropic organization that helped singers experiencing financial problems. He would often invite friends to entertain at a small venue in L.A. and donate all the money from ticket sales to the organization. Some of the artists who performed, at Fead’s request, included Mac Davis, Jeff Barry, Jerry Fuller and the long-married Jackie DeShannon and Randy Edelman.
Fead additionally served on the board of ASCAP and The Johnny Mercer Foundation.
Fead was introduced to his future wife, Beverlye, 40 years ago by music agent John Doumanian. The Feads were longtime residents of Montecito, Calif. In 2018, Beverlye wrote a warm recap of her husband’s life and career for The Montecito Journal. In the piece, she told the story of his fortuitous hiring at Liberty Records.
“After college, he came to California to work for a shirt company,” she wrote. “The first night he arrived in Los Angeles, he went to a party, and it changed the course of his life forever. He met a man who said Bob would make a good promotion man in the music business. He was willing to pay $85 a week, which was a lot of money in those days; Bob accepted the offer on the spot. He had no idea what to do, or what a promotion man was. His new employer gave him a record, told him to take it to radio stations to promote. He did. That was how he came to Liberty Records and to a business he has loved to this day.”
Until his retirement at age 81, Fead commuted between his home in Montecito and L.A. for work. More recently, the Feads returned to L.A. to be closer to family.
Songwriter and current ASCAP president Paul Williams issued a statement on the passing of his longtime friend (and fellow Omaha native): “Bob was an important piece of so many success stories, including mine…his passion was wrapped in a camouflage that made people comfortable and accepting of his opinion of a new artist. Both [his] opinion and advocacy changed lives! To those who were blessed to know him, may your sweetest of memories grow stronger with every mention of his name. God bless you, Bob Fead.”
Fead is survived by his wife, Beverlye; children Michael (and his wife, Tera) and Laurella Fead (from a marriage to Marilyn Fead); brother Bill Fead; grandchildren Max Clark and Jackson Fead; and relatives from his wife’s side of the family, including Jim and Leslie Hyman, Terry Hamermesh, Tessa Hamermesh, Alex Hyman and Gideon Hyman.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests tribute donations be made to the Motion Picture Television Fund (Compassionate Care Fund) at https://mptf.com/ways-to-give/.
Universal Music Group (UMG) has acquired the catalog of Oriental Star Agencies (OSA). Founded in 1966 in London by Pakistani immigrants Muhammad Ayyub and his brothers, OSA is known as one of the United Kingdom’s top labels for South Asian talent.
The OSA catalog consists primarily of recorded music, but the new UMG deal encompasses all of its master recording holdings and its publishing. This includes 18,000 songs and video recordings, including from Malkit Singh, a well-known Bhangra artist; Bally Sagoo; and Attaullah Khan. It also includes works from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a prolific, Grammy-nominated artist and film composer who is known for popularizing a form of Sufi devotional music, called “qawwali,” outside of his native Pakistan.
The sounds of OSA artists were able to permeate the United Kingdom’s musical consciousness even further at the turn of the 21st century, when several older OSA tracks were placed on the soundtrack of the hit soccer movie, Bend It Like Beckham, released in 2002. The label continued to operate independently until 2017 when it sold to Hi-Tech Music, another British record label.
According to IFPI’s Global Music Report, the Asian recorded music market grew 15.4% in 2023, marking the third consecutive year the continent has experienced double-digit revenue growth. Now, Asia accounts for just under 23% of the global market and is expected to continue to expand. Japan, South Korea and China account for the majority of Asia’s global music exports, but South Asian countries overall continue to grow year after year.
In recent years, as the music catalog market grew red hot and competition among buyers became greater than ever, some investors showedincreased interest in acquiring music from typically underrepresented genres and nationalities in the catalog market. Reservoir, for example, invested in new relationships and catalogs in Saudi Arabia and Egypt; Wahoo Music Fund One focused solely on Latin music purchases; Singapore-based blackx tried to corner the Asian music market; and Armada Music’s BEAT started buying up dance catalogs.
According to a press release about the OSA deal, the catalog acquisition “complements UMG’s current service offering and will help drive momentum for the South Asian music market, enabling local artists to reach the largest possible audience in the global community.”
“This acquisition of a hugely successful and iconic British-Asian label specializing in South Asian music will further increase Universal Music Group’s exposure to, and participation in, a fast growing and rapidly changing market,” said Adam Granite, executive vp of market development at UMG, in a statement. “I am particularly pleased that Universal Music Group will become the next custodian of Oriental Star Agencies, a label that has played an unparalleled role in bridging the musical identities of the UK and South Asia, taking the unique sounds of its artists to a broad audience. We believe this catalog has huge potential, and look forward to taking it to the next generation of music fans globally.”
“This is a momentous day for OSA and all our artists,” added Mohammed Twassen of OSA. “Becoming part of the UMG family will turbo-charge our South Asian music, helping it to get in front of more music fans across the world. The past decade has seen a true global explosion of music from the region, and now, under UMG’s stewardship, the next decade promises to be even more exciting.”
Christina Aguilera has signed with UTA for worldwide representation, the company tells Billboard. The pop icon joins a roster that includes some of music’s biggest players and hitmakers, including Lil Wayne, Post Malone, Karol G, Jonas Brothers and Guns N’ Roses. The news comes on the heels of a major night for Aguilera: On Saturday […]
More than six months after Jimmie Allen was first sued for sexual assault, the country star is splitting with his lawyers — and one of his accusers claims he’s delaying the case by doing so.
In a court filing last month obtained by Billboard, Allen’s lawyers, Jonathan Cole and Katelyn R. Dwyer from the prominent Tennessee law firm Baker Donelson, asked to withdraw from the case, saying the singer had been “unable to comply” with the terms of his representation agreement.
The filings (first reported by The Tennessean) contained no other details about the reason for Allen’s split with his lawyers. But they quickly prompted a response from his accuser’s attorney, who argued last week in her own filing that Allen had already cycled through three different law firms over the past year — and that he was stalling the case in the process.
“Allen has a track record of moving through attorneys,” wrote Elizabeth A. Fegan, counsel for Allen’s Jane Doe accusers. “These tactics are part of Allen’s continuing pattern of conduct to forestall plaintiff’s right to gather discovery to pursue her claims.”
After nearly eight months of litigation, Fegan argued that Allen had thus far “failed to produce the most basic information” during “discovery” — referring to the legal process in which key evidence is exchanged during a lawsuit. She claimed that Allen’s current attorneys at Baker Donelson are in possession of some materials, but that they “do not intend to produce it” before they withdraw from the case.
A rep for Allen did not immediately return a request for comment on the new dispute.
Allen, a once-rising country music star, was sued twice last year for sexual assault — first by a member of his management team who claims he harassed and assaulted her, then again by a woman who says he assaulted her in a Las Vegas hotel room and secretly recorded it. Both women sued as anonymous Jane Does.
The current filings only apply to the first case filed by the Jane Doe who served on Allen’s management team. Fegan did not oppose Cole and Dwyer’s similar motion to withdraw from the second case over the alleged Las Vegas incident, and that request was granted last week.
Allen has strongly denied all the accusations, saying he would “mount a vigorous defense.” He later counter-sued both women, accusing the management employee of defaming him and claiming that the other woman had stolen the phone he allegedly used to record her.
According to the new filings by Fegan (who represents both Doe accusers), when she first contacted Allen regarding her clients’ accusations, he was represented by Frost Brown Todd LLP, another well-known regional law firm. She said she later corresponded with another lawyer (Andrew Brettler of the firm Berk Brettler LLP) before Cole and Dwyer, the attorneys from Baker Donelson, appeared as Allen’s formal counsel when the lawsuit was filed in court.
Since then, she claimed Allen has “not responded to or provided any information pursuant to any of plaintiff’s discovery requests.” Given that there are “impending deadlines” — including a February cut-off for discovery — Fegan argued that allowing Cole and Dwyer to withdraw from the case would result in “severe prejudice.” Instead, she asked for a court order forcing them to turn over key information about the current status of the discovery process before they leave the case.
“Without this information, Plaintiff is unable to diligently prosecute her claims, meet the Court’s current deadlines, or adequately prepare for depositions,” Fegan wrote.
Sphere Entertainment Co. has promoted Ed Lunger to senior vp/GM of Sphere, the groundbreaking venue that opened in Las Vegas last September.
After previously serving as Sphere’s vp/assistant BM of back of house operations, Lunger will now oversee building operations, event production, technical operations, guest services, food and beverage, merchandise operations and ticket operations. He will also work across the Sphere organization to develop, execute and support strategic plans aligned with the venue’s overall business objectives.
“Being part of the Sphere team opening this next-generation venue has been an honor, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to now lead our venue operations team in this new role,” Lunger said in a statement. “Sphere is setting a new standard for the in-venue guest experience, and I look forward to working with my colleagues across the organization as we continue to deliver unforgettable moments for our guests right here in Las Vegas.”
“I am pleased that Ed has taken on a new leadership role with Sphere,” added Rich Claffey, Sphere’s executive vp/COO. “Since its opening, Sphere has been delivering a first-of-its-kind experience to guests. With his deep expertise in venue management and operations, including at other venues in the MSG Family of Companies, Ed will ensure that Sphere is well positioned to continue building on our world-class experience.”
Lunger is based in Las Vegas and has been on Sphere’s venue leadership team since 2020. He previously spent seven years on the venue operation team at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., and also worked in various venue operations and engineering roles at Madison Square Garden.
Sphere opened to much fanfare in September with a residency from U2. In December, Billboard Boxscore reported that the band’s 17-show run at Sphere generated nearly $110 million in ticket sales; a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from Dec. 5 notes that those shows generated a total of $30.7 million in revenue for Sphere Entertainment through Nov. 30. Meanwhile, Sphere Entertainment’s own content offering, Darren Aronofsky’s Postcard from Earth, generated approximately $44.5 million in total revenue from ticket sales from 111 showings.
U2‘s residency has been extended multiple times, with the final shows slated for May. Phish will play its own four-show Sphere residency this April.
T.I. and his wife Tiny Harris are facing a new civil lawsuit that claims they drugged and sexually assaulted a woman they met in a Los Angeles nightclub in 2005.
In a complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles court, lawyers for a Jane Doe accuser say T.I. (Clifford Harris) and Tiny (Tameka Harris) gave her a spiked drink after she was introduced to them in the VIP section of a club, then brought her back to their hotel room where they “forced her to get naked” and assaulted her.
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“Plaintiff did not consent to any of the sexual assault or misconduct and did not have the capacity to consent after being drugged by defendants,” lawyers for the alleged victim write in the lawsuit, which was obtained by Billboard.
Attorneys for accuser, who they say was in her early twenties and serving in the U.S. Air Force at the time, claim she was introduced to the couple by an associate named “Caviar,” who she says she met the previous night at the house of the rapper Coolio. Midway through the alleged incident, after she allegedly drank a beverage offered her by Tiny, she began to feel “extremely dizzy and lightheaded” and later passed out.
The allegations share similarities to previously-reported accusations. In 2021, the New York Times reported a police investigation over an alleged 2005 incident in which “a military veteran” claimed the famous couple had “raped her in a hotel room” after she had become “incapacitated” while drinking with them in the “VIP section” at a Los Angeles club.
At the time, the couple strongly denied any wrongdoing, saying the accusations were part of “a sordid shakedown campaign.” Prosecutors later declined to bring charges over the allegations, citing the expiration of a 10-year statute of limitations.
The new case is filed under California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, which created a four-year window through 2026 for alleged victims to bring cases that would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations. The law is similar to New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which recently led to a wave of sexual abuse cases in that state before the statute expired in November.
Representatives for the Harrises and their label, Grand Hustle Records, did not immediately return requests for comment on the lawsuit’s allegations. The attorney who represented the couple during the earlier police investigation also did return a request for comment.
The new lawsuit against the Harrises contains explicit details of the alleged sexual assault.
After meeting T.I. and Tiny at the nightclub, the accuser’s lawyers claim Tiny “handed plaintiff a drink” and “watched her take a drink.” A short time later, the trio allegedly returned to a nearby hotel, where Tiny “took off all of plaintiff’s clothing,” got undressed herself, and they were joined by a nude T.I.
“Plaintiff was then directed to get in the shower and T.I. and Tiny entered the shower with her,” her lawyers write. “Plaintiff was extremely shocked and uncomfortable.” After the shower, the accuser claims she began to feel “extremely dizzy and lightheaded” and was “visibly drugged” as T.I. told her to get into bed.
“Plaintiff could tell she was experiencing something serious and debilitating that was not a symptom of a typical drink or a few drinks,” her lawyers say.
After T.I. allegedly forced her to watch pornographic movies, he then “demanded she begin rubbing oil on his back and naked body, while Tiny “proceeded to get on plaintiff’s back, while she was still naked, and grind back and forth” on top of her. Then, “while Tiny was straddled on plaintiff’s back and pinning her down,” the accuser claims that T.I. “proceeded to slide his toes into plaintiff’s vagina.”
“Plaintiff grew increasingly sicker and felt extremely ill by the assault and battery she was experiencing,” the Doe’s attorneys write. Eventually, she “forced herself up and went into the bathroom where she proceeded to vomit.” She later emerged from the bathroom “naked, dazed, sickened, and weak” and passed out on a couch.
When she was awoken by a security guard the next morning, the accuser claims she “immediately noticed her vagina was in serious pain.” As she was crying, she says the security guard then escorted her out of the room.
The lawsuit is the latest in a recent flood of lawsuits alleging sexual assault and sexual harassment by men in the music industry. Over the past year, such cases have been filed against hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, Aerosmith star Steven Tyler, Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine and former Recording Academy president Neil Portnow, among many others.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and need support and/or resources, reach out to RAINN and the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-HOPE) for free, confidential help 24/7.
Universal Music Group and Tencent Music Entertainment have renewed their multi-year licensing agreement, the companies announced on Wednesday (Jan. 3). Under the renewed agreement between TME and UMG — first signed in May 2017 — Tencent will continue to distribute UMG content on its associated streaming platforms QQ Music, Kogou Music and Kuwo Music, as […]
Hit singles by Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and SZA helped lift the U.K. streaming market to a record high last year with more than 179 billion music tracks streamed across the 12 months, up 12.8% on 2022’s total, and nearly double the volume of audio streams registered five years ago, according to year-end figures from labels trade body BPI.
Female artists fueled the growth in streaming consumption, spending an unprecedented 31 weeks at No. 1 on the United Kingdom’s official singles chart – the highest total since the charts launched in 1952.
Leading the pack is Cyrus’s “Flowers,” which spent 10 weeks atop the U.K. charts and was the year’s biggest song with 198 million streams.
In total, seven of the ten most popular songs in the U.K. in 2023 were by female acts with SZA, Swift, Cameroonian American singer Libianca and U.K. artists PinkPantheress, RAYE and Ellie Goulding (in collaboration with Calvin Harris) joining Cyrus in the annual best-sellers list. BPI reports it is the highest number of female artists in the year-end top 10 in more than 70 years.
The rest of the top 10 was made up of tracks by British rappers Dave and Central Cee, Nigerian singer Rema and Harry Styles.
Across the year, almost half (48.5%) of the songs that entered the top 10 of the U.K.’s weekly official singles chart were by female acts, either solo or in collaboration with other artists.
Jo Twist
Courtesy Photo
Reflecting on a record-breaking year for female artists, BPI chief executive Jo Twist said the achievements of stars like Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and RAYE should be celebrated, but cautioned against complacency in the industry “to ensure that this becomes the norm.”
BPI reports that streaming now makes up more than 88% of all music sales in the U.K., compared to 64% five years ago, with physical formats accounting for 9.4% of today’s market.
The trade body says that more than 2,500 tracks generated over 10 million audio and video streams in 2023, compared to around 1,100 songs reaching the same total in 2018.
Overall, music consumption rose for a ninth consecutive year with the equivalent of 182.8 million albums streamed or purchased in 2023 across digital and physical formats, up 10% on the previous 12 months.
Vinyl album sales rose for the 16th consecutive year, growing at their fastest rate this decade (up almost 12%) to 6.1 million units and marking the highest level of vinyl purchases in the country since 1990, when Phil Collins, Elton John and Madonna were among the year’s best-selling 12-inch releases.
In 2023, that accolade was won by Swift, who holds three places in the year’s top-selling vinyl album charts, including the No. 1 spot with 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Other entries in the top 10 included records by The Rolling Stones, Lana Del Rey, Fleetwood Mac, Blur, Lewis Capaldi and Olivia Rodrigo.
CD sales dropped 6.9% year-on-year to 10.8 million units, while cassette sales stayed broadly level with recent years at 136,000 units. Digital album sales dropped 4.6% to 3.5 million units with best-sellers including Trustfall by Pink and But Here We Are by Foo Fighters.
Despite the dominance of streaming, BPI reports that physical format sales made up more than half of all chart-eligible sales for the vast majority (86%) of albums that debuted at the top of the U.K. charts last year.
Across digital and physical formats combined, The Weeknd’s The Highlights was the year’s most popular album in the U.K., followed by Swift’s Midnights and her 1989 (Taylor’s Version) set. Elton John’s Diamonds, which was first released in 2017, ranked at No. 4 thanks to the singer’s farewell tour and high-profile Glastonbury headline performance in the summer.
Harry Styles’ Harry’s House secured fifth place in the overall year-end albums tally, while Barbie: The Album was the year’s top compilation.
BPI’s preliminary year-end report, published Wednesday (Jan. 3), doesn’t include financial sales data. Instead, it uses Official Charts Company data to measure U.K. music consumption in terms of volume.
The London-based organization will publish its full year-end report, including recorded music revenues, later this year. Another British trade body, the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), is due to report on annual music retail spending later this month.
The U.K. is the world’s third biggest recorded music market behind the U.S. and Japan with sales of just under $1.7 billion in trade value, according to IFPI’s 2023 Global Music Report.
U.K. OFFICIAL ARTIST ALBUMS CHART 2023
1. The Weeknd – The Highlights
2. Taylor Swift – Midnights
3. Taylor Swift – 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
4. Elton John – Diamonds
5. Harry Styles – Harry’s House
6. Fleetwood Mac – 50 Years – Don’t Stop
7. Eminem – Curtain Call – The Hits
8. SZA – SOS
9. Arctic Monkeys – AM
10. ABBA – Gold – Greatest Hits
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U.K. TOP TEN OFFICIAL SINGLES CHART 2023
1. Miley Cyrus – Flowers
2. Dave & Central Cee – Sprinter
3. RAYE ft 070 Shake – Escapism
4. Taylor Swift – Anti-Hero
5. Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – Miracle
6. Rema – Calm Down
7. SZA – Kill Bill
8. PinkPantheress – Boy’s A Liar
9. Harry Styles – As It Was
10. Libianca – People
A bail hearing was postponed Tuesday in Las Vegas for a former Los Angeles-area gang leader charged with orchestrating the killing of hip-hop music legend Tupac Shakur in 1996, giving defense attorneys time to respond to prosecutors’ allegations that witnesses in the case may be at risk.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis’ court-appointed attorneys sought the delay to respond to prosecutors’ allegations, filed last week, that jail telephone recordings and a list of names provided to Davis’ family members show that Davis poses a threat to the public if he is released.
No court hearing was held Tuesday. One of Davis’ attorneys, Robert Arroyo, told The Associated Press later that the defense wanted to respond in court in writing. He declined to provide details. Arroyo said last week he did not see evidence that any witness had been named or threatened.
Davis is the only person ever charged with a crime in the drive-by shooting that also wounded rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight, who is now serving 28 years in a California prison for an unrelated fatal shooting in the Los Angeles area in 2015.
Davis has pleaded not guilty and is due for trial in June on a murder charge. He has remained jailed without bail since his arrest Sept. 29 outside his Henderson home. Las Vegas police had served a search warrant there in mid-July.
Davis, originally from Compton, California, is now housed at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, where detainees’ phone calls are routinely recorded. If convicted at trial, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
In a recording of an October jail call, prosecutors say Davis’ son told the defendant about a “green light” authorization. Their court filing made no reference to Davis instructing anyone to harm someone, or to anyone associated with the case being physically harmed.
“In (Davis’) world, a ‘green light’ is an authorization to kill,” prosecutors Marc DiGiacomo and Binu Palal told Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny in the court document, adding that at least one witness was provided assistance from federal authorities “so he could change his residence.”
Prosecutors also point to Davis’ own words since 2008 — in police interviews, in his 2019 tell-all memoir and in the media — that they say provides strong evidence that he orchestrated the September 1996 shooting.
Davis’ attorneys argue that his descriptions of Shakur’s killing were “done for entertainment purposes and to make money.”
Arroyo and co-counsel Charles Cano have argued their 60-year-old client is in poor health after a battle with cancer that is in remission, poses no danger to the community, and won’t flee to avoid trial. They want Kierny to set bail at not more than $100,000.
Davis maintains that he was given immunity from prosecution in 2008 by FBI agents and Los Angeles police who were investigating the killings of Shakur in Las Vegas and rival rapper Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, six months later in Los Angeles.
Davis’ bail hearing is now scheduled for Jan. 9.
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: A full recap of the music law stories that dominated 2023, from #MeToo to artificial intelligence to Ed Sheeran to Young Thug; an appellate setback for Nirvana in the lawsuit over a naked baby on a famous album cover; a lawsuit filed by New York’s attorney general accusing SiriusXM of “trapping” consumers; and much more.
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Year In Review: 2023’s Top Legal Stories
Before we start bringing you all the upcoming music law stories of 2024 — A verdict in the Atlanta RICO trial? More AI lawsuits? A peace treaty between Hall & Oates?!? — let’s take a quick look back at everything that happened in 2023.
Ed Sheeran went to trial over “Let’s Get It On” — and won big. Young Thug went to trial over accusations of gang violence — and there’s no end in sight. A number of men in the music industry were hit with sexual abuse lawsuits, from label executives to star artists to hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. Lizzo got sued, too, by backup dancers who say she was a toxic boss. And the sudden rise of generative artificial intelligence technology like ChatGPT posed thorny legal questions that could take years to sort out.
To get the full story, go read our entire year-end recap — including the 10 biggest music law stories of 2023 and a slew of honorable mentions.
Other top stories this week…
NIRVANA NAKED BABY CASE – A federal appeals court ruled against Nirvana and revived a child pornography lawsuit filed by Spencer Elden, the man (now in his 30s) who appeared as a nude baby on the cover of the band’s 1991 album Nevermind. The ruling, which said child porn “haunts victims” for years, paves the way for litigation over whether the image actually meets the definition of child pornography — something Nirvana vigorously disputes and some legal experts doubt.
NO-CANCEL CULTURE? – SiriusXM was sued by New York’s attorney general over allegations that the satellite radio and streaming service has made it “extremely difficult” for listeners to cancel their subscriptions, including by subjecting them to “a lengthy and burdensome endurance contest” on the phone. “Sirius deliberately wastes its subscribers’ time even though it has the ability to process cancellations with the click of a button.”
GLORIA TREVI ABUSE CASE – The Mexican pop star sued her former manager and music producer Sergio Andrade, claiming he was a “true predator” who subjected her and other women to “sadistic abuse” in the late 1980s and 1990s. The allegations came as a counter-claim to an earlier lawsuit filed in 2022 by two alleged victims who accused both Andrade and Trevi of “grooming” and “exploiting” them as children.
AMERICAN IDOL ASSAULT CLAIMS – Paula Abdul sued former American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe over allegations that he sexually assaulted her, including once during the early seasons of Idol and again in 2014 during the production of So You Think You Can Dance.