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Since subscribing to Spotify in 2023, Genevieve Capolongo says she’s mostly listened to “lesser-known artists” like Próxima Parada, Julia Cooper and Brusco. But she says the streamer’s recommendation tools keep serving her “mainstream, major-label tracks” by Drake, Zach Bryan and Justin Bieber.
According to her lawyers, that’s because Spotify was paid to do so.
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In a lawsuit filed last week, Capolongo claims the streamer’s Discovery Mode and editorial playlists amount to a “modern form of payola,” allowing labels to secretly boost their tracks with a “deceptive pay-for-play” program. She says she wouldn’t have subscribed if she knew that Spotify’s recommendations had been sold “to the highest bidder.”
The case is sometimes light on specifics, like citing unnamed “industry insiders” about alleged illicit payments or “disproportionate” rates of major-label music. Spotify, for its part, called the lawsuit “nonsense” and said it was “riddled with misunderstandings and inaccuracies.”
But it targets a program that has raised eyebrows for years — and comes at a time when Spotify has faced multiple accusations about manipulation on the platform. For more, go read our full story here.
You’re reading 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. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday, go subscribe here.
Other top stories this week…
DRAKE’S APPEAL – As Drake asks an appeals court to revive his lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” I asked legal experts what his lawyers might argue — and whether it’ll work.
TAYLOR V. TRUMP? – Taylor Swift fans want her to sue the Trump administration after it used “The Fate of Ophelia” in a TikTok video. She probably could, but almost certainly won’t.
DISJOINT VENTURE – 10K Projects, the Warner-owned label founded by Elliot Grainge, is facing a lawsuit claiming it owes millions to Taz Taylor’s Internet Money Records under a joint venture.
FAST & FREE SONGS – How did New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani get clearance to use Bob Dylan’s iconic anthem “The Times They Are A-Changin’” in a campaign ad? It turns out he didn’t.
MJ LITIGATION – Michael Jackson’s estate is locked in a legal battle over abuse allegations from the Cascio siblings, who spent much of their childhoods with the King of Pop.
GORDIAN SLIPKNOT – Slipknot’s lawsuit against a group that has owned slipknot.com for decades has hit an unexpected snag: The shadowy entity has hired a lawyer and is fighting back.
ATLANTA ARREST – Rod Wave was arrested in Atlanta on weapon and drug charges. His lawyer — star defense attorney Drew Findling — says Wave was “unjustly profiled and unlawfully arrested.”
NAME REVEAL? – A “Jane Roe” woman who accused Garth Brooks of sexual assault is refusing to concede defeat in her fight to remain pseudonymous, filing an appeal to avoid disclosing her real name.
NOVEMBER LITIGATION – An ex-manager of Guns N’ Roses is suing the band, claiming it has unfairly blocked the release of his memoir by threatening to sue him and his publisher over a decades-old NDA.
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THE BIG NEWS: Universal Music Group and artificial intelligence music service Udio reached a landmark agreement last week to end their lawsuit – the first major settlement in the battle over the future of AI music. Here’s everything you need to know.
The deal, announced Wednesday, will end UMG’s allegations that Udio broke the law by training its AI models on vast troves of copyrighted songs — an accusation made in dozens of other lawsuits filed against booming AI firms by book authors, news outlets, movie studios and visual artists. The agreement involves both a “compensatory” settlement for past sins and an ongoing partnership for a new, more limited subscription AI service that pays fees to UMG and its artists.
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-The agreement is much more than a legal settlement, Udio CEO Andrew Sanchez told Billboard’s Kristin Robinson in a detailed question-and-answer session just hours after the news broke: “We’re making a new market here, which we think is an enormous one.”
-The deal between UMG and Udio will resolve their legal battle, but broader litigation involving rival AI firm Suno and both Sony Music and Warner Music is still very much pending. Are more settlements coming? Does the deal impact the case? Go read my look-ahead analysis of the ongoing court battle.
-Will AI do more harm than good for the music business? That’s the question Billboard’s Glenn Peoples is asking – and financial analysts don’t have a clear answer. Some believe AI’s negatives outweigh its positives, while others see mostly upside. Maybe it’s just too early to know, Glenn says: “In the near term, expect more deals like UMG’s partnership with Udio. Over the long term, expect to be surprised.”
-Artist advocates are already demanding answers about how exactly this whole thing will work. According to the Music Artists Coalition, talk of “partnership” and “consent” are all well and good, but details are what matter: “We have to make sure it doesn’t come at the expense of the people who actually create the music,” MAC founder Irving Azoff said.
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-To put it lightly, Udio subscribers were not big fans of the settlement, which saw the company immediately disable downloads – even for songs that users created long before the deal was reached. After two days of outrage and threats of legal action, Udio said it would open a 48-hour window for users to download their songs. But with wholesale changes to the platform coming soon, will that be enough to satisfy them?
You’re reading 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. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday, go subscribe here.
Other top stories this week…
AINT OVER YET – Drake is now formally appealing last month’s court ruling that dismissed his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” prolonging a messy legal drama that has captivated the music industry and, at times, drawn ridicule in the hip-hop world.
DIDDY APPEAL – Sean “Diddy” Combs is appealing too – and he’ll get a fast-track process to do it. With such cases sometimes lasting years, his lawyers argued that he could be nearly finished with his three-ish year prison sentence by the time an appellate court rules on his prostitution convictions.
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POT SHOTS – Offset is facing a new civil assault lawsuit claiming he punched a security guard in the face at a cannabis dispensary in Los Angeles after being asked to show his I.D., sending the staffer to the emergency room.
MASSIVE FINE – Fugees rapper Pras Michel must forfeit a whopping $64 million to the government following his conviction on illegal foreign lobbying and conspiracy charges, a federal judge says, overruling his protests that it’s “grossly disproportionate.”
DRAKE SUED – Drake and internet personality Adin Ross are facing a class action accusing them of using “deceptive, fraudulent and unfair” practices to promote online sweepstake casino Stake and “encourage impressionable users to gamble,” including using house money to do it.
DRAKE NOT SUED – Another class action, this one against Spotify, claims that the platform has turned a “blind eye” to streaming fraud and allowed billions of fake plays. It alleges that Drake is one of the most-boosted artists, but the rapper is not named as a defendant nor accused of wrongdoing.
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FAIR TRADE? Cam’ron is suing J. Cole over allegations he reneged on a deal to swap featured credits – claiming he provided a verse for Cole’s “Ready ’24” but that Cole repeatedly declined to do the same, or even appear on Killa Cam’s podcast.
CUSTODY TRUCE – Halle Bailey and DDG temporarily agreed to share custody of their son and drop domestic violence claims against each other, putting a halt to the musicians’ messy legal battle after months of back and forth.
NEWJEANS, SAME LABEL – A Korean court issued a ruling rejecting NewJeans’ attempt to break away from its label ADOR, dealing a major victory to the HYBE subsidiary in its closely-watched legal battle with the chart-topping K-pop group.
DEPOSITION DRAMA – A judge says Tory Lanez must sit for a deposition in litigation stemming from his alleged shooting of Megan Thee Stallion in 2020. The case was filed by Megan against gossip blogger Milagro Gramz, who she claims spread falsehoods about the shooting.
NOT VERY CASH MONEY – Former Hot Boys member Turk is being sued by a concert promoter over online threats that supposedly threatened to derail a Cash Money Records reunion tour featuring Birdman and Juvenile
UGLY DIVORCE – Sia and her estranged husband are fighting over custody of their child amid divorce proceedings — and the crossfire is getting ugly. Among other claims, he says the pop star is a drug addict who can’t care for a baby, and she says he was investigated over child pornography.
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THE BIG STORY: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour was so big that it has developed its own legal system.
With a record-shattering haul of more than $2 billion face-value ticket sales — and many times that in the secondary market — it’s not surprising that legal disputes have broken out. Don’t forget the old adage in the music industry: “If you write a hit, you get a writ.”
It started immediately after the chaotic pre-sale, when Swift fans filed class actions against Ticketmaster, accusing the company of causing the “disaster” rollout. In August, the Federal Trade Commission sued a ticket broker for allegedly using bots to buy thousands of Eras tickets that it resold for more than $1 million in profit. Just this month, an angry Swiftie sued StubHub for giving her “inferior” seats after she dropped $14,000 on Eras tickets.
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The latest fallout came last week in a criminal case — over a “cybercrime crew” that allegedly stole Eras tickets from StubHub and resold them for a windfall. For more, go read our full story here.
Other top stories this week…
BAND V. LABEL – Powerhouse regional Mexican label Rancho Humilde is locked in a bitter legal dispute with one of its fastest rising acts, the California-based band Fuerza Regida, with allegations of unpaid royalties, unapproved touring deals and “sabotage.”
DIDDY RELEASE DATE – Weeks after Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to over four years in prison on prostitution convictions following a sweeping sexual abuse case, inmate records now show when he’s expected to be set free — but a lot could change before then.
MUNI LAWSUIT – Muni Long’s former managers, Chaka Zulu and Jeff Dixon, are suing the singer for allegedly refusing to pay more than $600,000 worth of promised fees; the Grammy-winning R&B star’s team calls the claims “unfounded.”
BEER BATTLE – Country singer Jameson Rodgers allegedly hurled a “full, unopened beer can” into a concert crowd and hit a fan in the face, resulting in “severe and permanent injuries.” Now, an appeals court says Sony Music can’t escape the ensuing lawsuit.
THE FIGHT GOES ON – Even after A$AP Rocky was acquitted on charges of shooting A$AP Relli on a Hollywood street, the former friends and collaborators continue to battle in a pair of civil lawsuits filed by Relli.
ANTITRUST CASE – Former Oak View Group chief Tim Leiweke, now facing federal bid-rigging charges, is asking a judge for permission to travel to Canada for business next month — a routine motion on paper that underscores how sharply life changes under indictment.
IMPERIAL MARCH – A Washington, D.C., man was allegedly detained after playing John Williams’ legendary “Imperial March” — aka Darth Vader’s music from Star Wars — to protest National Guard troops sent to the city by President Donald Trump, according to a new lawsuit filed by the ACLU.
SAMPLE SPAT – Lizzo is facing a copyright lawsuit over a track she teased on social media to poke fun at Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad controversy, even though she never actually commercially released it.
THE BIG STORY: Two years after Jimmy Buffett’s death, his widow and his longtime former business manager are locked in a legal war over the singer-songwriter’s $275 million estate.
Jane Buffett, his wife of 46 years, and Rick Mozenter, an accountant and financial advisor to Buffett for decades, launched dueling court actions last week accusing the other of hostility and mismanagement. At issue is control of the singer’s trust, which holds, among other assets, a lucrative 20% stake in his Margaritaville chain of resorts and restaurants.
Jane’s lawyers say Mozenter has been “openly hostile and adversarial” and has “failed to perform even the most basic tasks required of him” in his role as co-trustee. Mozenter’s attorneys say Buffett clearly intended to limit his wife’s control over the trust – but that this has “made Jane very angry” and caused her to be “completely uncooperative.”
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For more, go read Rachel Scharf’s full story on the battle over Buffett.
You’re reading 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. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday, go subscribe here.
Other top stories this week…
CUSTODY BATTLE – Halle Bailey and ex-boyfriend DDG exchanged scathing court filings amid their increasingly acrimonious custody battle over their one-year-old son. In his petition, the rapper (Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr.) claimed that Bailey had been abusive and repeatedly threatened self-harm; in her response, Bailey said those claims were exaggerated and that DDG’s filing was “cold retribution to embarrass, humiliate and caused me additional emotional distress.” The back-and-forth came a month after Bailey sought and won a restraining order by claiming the rapper had physically abused her, including in the presence of their son.
DIDDY TRIAL RECAP – The sex-trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs continued into a fifth week, starting with the judge denying a motion for a mistrial based on testimony about an infamous alleged incident in which the rap mogul dangled a woman from a 17th-floor balcony. Don’t miss our full recap of Week 4, which included testimony about the balcony incident; testimony about Diddy buying a surveillance video with $100,000 in cash in a paper bag; and the start of testimony from an alleged victim named “Jane” over being forced to participate in marathon “freak-offs.” The trial is expected to run until early July.
YSL CASE CLOSED – More than three years after Young Thug, Gunna and dozens of others were indicted in Atlanta on gang charges, the last co-defendant pleaded guilty – a moment that marks the formal end of a sprawling, controversial criminal case that had captivated the music industry for years. The final closure came seven months after Thug pleaded guilty and received only probation, a stunning defeat for prosecutors that had labeled him a dangerous gang boss.
BIG PIMPIN QUOTES – Jay-Z’s legal nemesis Tony Buzbee asked a federal judge to dismiss the rapper’s defamation case with an unusual flourish: quoting the lyrics from the star’s “Big Pimpin.” Buzbee, a Texas lawyer who briefly filed a rape lawsuit against the rapper before dropping it without a settlement, claimed in the court filing that the 2000 song’s references to prostitution describe Jay’s views on “how men should treat women.”
LYRICS LITIGATION – Lyrics provider Musixmatch filed a response to a recent antitrust lawsuit from rival LyricFind, calling the case “meritless” and arguing that the rival was “hoping it can obtain through litigation what it was unable to win in the marketplace.” The response came two months after LyricFind accused Musixmatch of seeking to monopolize the market for providing lyrics to streamers like Spotify by signing an “unprecedented” deal with Warner Music.
ANOTHER TAYLOR STALKER – Taylor Swift won a temporary restraining order against an alleged stalker named Brian Jason Wagner, a 45-year-old Colorado man who the pop superstar claims showed up at her Los Angeles home numerous times over the past year to falsely claim she’s the mother of his child. In seeking the court order, Swift argued Wagner’s conduct “makes me fear for my safety and the safety of my family.” Swift has had trouble with stalkers before, including a man arrested last year after being spotted dozens of times outside her Manhattan apartment.
LIL DURK BAIL DENIED – The drill rapper was once again denied release on bond in his murder-for-hire case, leaving him to sit in jail until his trial (currently scheduled for October). The federal judge overseeing the case – which claims he hired gunman to carry out a failed hit on rival Quando Rondo – noted that rapper was apprehended trying to board a flight to Dubai (United Arab Emirates is a non-extradition country) and might try to escape again if let free.
DEFAMATORY DOC? – Russell Simmons filed a defamation lawsuit against HBO over a 2020 documentary called On The Record that focused on the sexual assault allegations against him. Simmons said the movie disregarded or “suppressed” key evidence in his favor — including “CIA-grade polygraph results” and Oprah Winfrey’s withdrawal from the project – that would have refuted and rebutted” the allegations that were “falsely made against plaintiff in the film.”
ROYALTIES ROW – Sony filed a lawsuit against the streaming platform LiveOne and its subsidiary Slacker Radio, claiming they owe $2.6 million in unpaid licensing fees but have refused to stop playing the label’s music, including tracks by Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus and Tate McRae.
NEWJEANS COURT ORDER – A dispute between K-pop band NewJeans and its agency ADOR, a HYBE subsidiary, escalated when a South Korean court approved a stricter legal measure restricting the group’s independent activities. The court ordered each member (Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein) to pay 1 billion KRW ($734,000) for any unauthorized entertainment activity – meaning fines could total $3.6 million for a single uncleared group appearance.
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 deep dive into the case against Diddy with the help of R. Kelly’s prosecutors; sexual abuse allegations against country star Garth Brooks; a judge refuses to rule on the rights to Jay-Z’s debut album; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Diddy’s Case, Explained By R. Kelly’s Prosecutors
In many ways, the charges unveiled last month against Sean “Diddy” Combs mirror those brought in 2019 against R. Kelly, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2022 after a jury convicted him of decades of abuse. Both cases center on allegations that a powerful musician broke federal racketeering laws – usually aimed at mobsters – by building essentially an organized crime syndicate aimed at facilitating his own sexual abuse.
So to understand more, I dove deep into the Combs case this week with Nadia Shihata and Maria Cruz Melendez, two of the lead prosecutors who tried the case against Kelly. Now in private practice, Shihata and Cruz Melendez discussed the Combs case with Billboard in separate interviews – about how a case like this is built, who else might face charges, and what the fight ahead will look like. Go read our full story here.
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Other top stories this week…
STUNNING ACCUSATIONS – Country music star Garth Brooks became the latest music industry figure to face abuse allegations, leveled by a unnamed woman who says he sexually assaulted her while she worked for him as a hairstylist. The case came with an unusual twist: the revelation that it was Brooks who had filed a mysterious John Doe lawsuit last month, seeking to block the publication of allegations that he called “extortion.” In a statement strongly denying the accusations, Brooks said he was “incapable” of such conduct and would “trust the system” to clear his name.
NO IDEA, YOUR HONOR – Martin Shkreli told a federal judge he couldn’t remember all the people with whom he shared copies of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, an ultra-rare Wu-Tang Clan album that he once owned – and that it’s “highly likely” that other people still have copies of the (supposedly) one-of-a-kind work. The disclosure came amid a lawsuit filed against him by PleasrDAO, a digital art collective that purchased Once Upon after Shkreli forfeited it to prosecutors as part of his securities fraud conviction.
REASONABLE DOUBT DISPUTE – With a court-ordered auction looming to sell off Damon Dash’s one-third stake in Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records, the judge overseeing the case said he would not rule on a thorny question of copyright law. That is: Can Jay-Z use copyright termination to retake control of the rights to his debut album Reasonable Doubt from Roc-A-Fella? That’s kind of a crucial question for the Dash auction, since the album is company’s only real revenue-generating asset. But the judge said the case was neither the time nor the place for such a ruling: “The court does not presently have jurisdiction over the validity of Carter’s copyright termination notice.”
THE PLAY MUST NOT GO ON – Ken Caillat, a music producer who worked on Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, filed a copyright lawsuit against the creators of the hit Broadway play Stereophonic, claiming they stole material from his memoir about working on the legendary album. The lawsuit – which calls the play an “unauthorized adaptation” of his 2012 book — raises tricky questions about copyright protection and real-life stories.
R. KELLY AT SCOTUS – The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from R. Kelly over his 2022 convictions in Chicago on child pornography and enticement charges, leaving him with no further direct appeals from a verdict that saw him sentenced to 20 years in prison. The ruling effectively finalizes one of Kelly’s two sets of sex abuse convictions; the other — a September 2021 guilty verdict on racketeering charges brought by prosecutors in New York that resulted in a 30-year prison sentence — is still pending on appeal before a lower appellate court.
TIKTOK LAWSUIT – Attorneys general for more than a dozen states filed lawsuits against TikTok over allegations that the app – a key marketing tool in the modern music industry — is harming the mental health of young people. The lawsuits claim TikTok made its algorithm intentionally addictive, despite knowing that prolonged use will lead to “profound psychological and physiological harms” in children.
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: Snoop Dogg sues Post and Walmart for allegedly sabotaging his brand of breakfast cereal, Taylor Swift threatens to sue a college student for tracking her private jet; Kanye West is accused of illegal sampling by Ozzy Osbourne and the estate of Donna Summer; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Snoop Says Post & Walmart Were Cereal Killers
If you had “Snoop Dogg,” “cereal” and “lawsuit” on your 2024 bingo card, congrats.
Broadus Foods, a company owned by Snoop and Master P, filed a lawsuit last week accusing food giant Post of sabotaging the rollout of the company’s Snoop Cereal brand. As you might expect, the complaint had some rhetorical flair — leveling charges of “underhanded dealing” and “diabolical actions.”
The case claims that Post signed a deal to produce and distribute the brand, but then secretly “ensured that Snoop Cereal would not be available to consumers.” The rappers claim the move was payback after Snoop (Calvin Broadus) and Master P (Percy Miller) refused to sell their company to Post.
“Essentially, because Snoop Dogg and Master refused to sell Snoop Cereal in totality, Post entered a false arrangement where they could choke Broadus Foods out of the market, thereby preventing Snoop Cereal from being sold or produced by any competitor,” lawyers for Snoop’s company wrote.
The case – filed by prominent civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump — also named Walmart as a defendant, claiming that the retail giant played a key role in “the most egregious example” of Post’s alleged wrongdoing.
For more information, go read our full story on the lawsuit, including access to the actual docs filed in the case.
CALLING ALL MUSIC LAWYERS! For the first time, Billboard is expanding its peer-voted Power Players’ Choice Award to cover music’s top lawyers, and we’re asking industry members from all sectors to honor the attorney they believe had the most impact across the business in the past year. Voting is now open to all Billboard Pro members, both existing and new, with one vote per member per round.
Other top stories…
TAYLOR SWIFT PLANE TRACKER – Days before her big Super Bowl appearance, news broke that Taylor’s lawyers had threatened to sue a Florida college student named Jack Sweeney who runs social media accounts that track celebrity private jets, including Swift’s. In their cease-and-desist letter, her lawyers called Sweeney’s posts “stalking and harassing behavior” and warned that they “have no choice but to pursue any and all legal remedies” if he did not stop posting the locations of Swift’s private jet. What might those remedies actually be? It wasn’t specified.
SWIFT STALKER WON’T STAND TRIAL – Whether or not it’s illegal to track her plane, Taylor’s lawyers have good reason to be concerned about stalkers. On Friday, a man criminally charged for lurking outside the star’s Manhattan apartment was declared mentally unfit for trial, meaning his case will be dismissed and he will be transferred to a mental health facility until doctors clear him to be released.
KANYE SAMPLES SNAFU – Both rocker Ozzy Osbourne and the estate of legendary singer Donna Summer publicly accused Kanye West of using their songs without permission on his new album, even after they had specifically rejected his requests for licenses. Calling West an “antisemite,” Ozzy took to social media to blast the rapper: “I want no association with this man!” The Summer estate, meanwhile, claimed the embattled rapper had committed “copyright infringement” by seemingly interpolating her song. In an interview with Billboard’s Robert Levine, Ozzy’s wife and manager Sharon Osbourne explained the backstory: “We get so many requests for these songs, and when we saw that request, we just said no way.”
PANDORA SUED BY MLC – The Mechanical Licensing Collective – the group created by Congress in 2018 to collect royalties – filed a lawsuit against Pandora, alleging that the internet radio platform has been failing to adequately pay and report its monthly royalties. The case could dive into tricky questions about whether or not Pandora’s free ad-supported service is an “interactive” platform like Spotify, or more similar to a “noninteractive” radio broadcast – a key distinction under the law.
TIKTOK DISCRIMINATION CASE – With the social media giant currently at the center of a high-profile showdown with Universal Music Group, the company was hit with a gender discrimination lawsuit from a top female executive named Katie Ellen Puris, who says she was fired because TikTok’s upper leadership required “docility and meekness” from women.
CABO WABO IN COURT – Sammy Hagar‘s company demanded that a federal judge shut down an allegedly unauthorized Hollywood location of his Cabo Wabo Cantina, claiming that a former franchisee had effectively gone rogue and was damaging the rock star’s reputation.
KANYE CLASS ACTION – Adidas AG asked a federal judge to dismiss a class action that claims the company violated securities laws by failing to sufficiently warn investors about Ye’s offensive behavior and the risk it posed to the company’s share price. “This lawsuit is a misguided attempt to transform the dramatic and unfortunate end of the commercial partnership between Adidas and Ye… into a claim for securities fraud,” the company’s lawyers wrote.
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 judge clears French Montana of copyright infringement but sympathizes with his accuser; T.I. and his wife face the latest sexual assault accusations to rock the music industry; Cher battles with her son over a potential conservatorship; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: French Montana’s “Technical” Copyright Victory
Imitation might be the “sincerest form of flattery,” but it isn’t always copyright infringement. That was the key takeaway from an unusual federal court ruling last week, in which a judge dismissed a copyright lawsuit against French Montana – but almost seemed to regret that she had to do so?
The case against French (Karim Kharbouch) was filed by a little-known Chicago artist named Hotwire The Producer (Eddie Lee Richardson), who claimed the star rapper’s 2013 hit “Ain’t Worried About Nothin’” featured an unlicensed sample of his earlier song “Hood Pushin’ Weight.”
In a decision Thursday, Judge Nancy L. Maldonado ruled that French’s song did not technically infringe the rights that Richardson had secured – he registered only the copyright to a sound recording, not the underlying musical composition. But she also expressed “great sympathy” for Richardson, lamenting that he had failed to fully register his copyrights and saying that the outcome of the case “might have been very different” if he had.
“If it is any consolation, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the Court hopes that Richardson will not be deterred in his musical endeavors, now armed with a better understanding of copyright law,” Judge Maldonado wrote. “As it is, though, Richardson’s evidence in this particular case is insufficient to establish copyright infringement.”
For more on what the judge had to say in her opinion — including advising French not to celebrate too much over a “technical win” – go read our full story.
Other top stories this week…
T.I. SEX ASSAULT CASE – The rapper and his wife Tiny were hit with a civil lawsuit claiming they drugged and sexually assaulted a woman they met in a Los Angeles nightclub in 2005. In the complaint, lawyers for the unnamed Jane Doe accuser said that 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. In a statement to Billboard, the couple “emphatically and categorically” denied the allegations and vowed to fight back against a lawsuit that they said the plaintiff had been threatening to file for years.
JIMMIE ALLEN ATTORNEY SHAKEUP – More than six months after Jimmie Allen was hit with a pair of sexual assaults, news broke that the country star was parting ways with the legal team that’s been representing him (from the Tennessee law firm Baker Donelson) in the cases. The move to swap lawyers quickly prompted objections from his accusers, who say he’s obstructing the progress of the litigation by “moving through attorneys.”
CHER FIGHTS SON OVER CONSERVATORSHIP – A Los Angeles judge declined to immediately put Cher’s son (Elijah Blue Allman) into a legal conservatorship – an arrangement she is seeking over his opposition — but said he would take up the issue again later this month. Cher petitioned for the conservatorship late last year, arguing that Elijah’s struggles with addiction and mental health have left him unable to manage his money and potentially put his life in danger by making him able to buy drugs.
TUPAC MURDER BAIL BATTLE – A hearing is set for Tuesday over whether Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the former Los Angeles-area gang leader charged with orchestrating the killing of hip-hop music legend Tupac Shakur, should be released on bail. The proceedings had initially been scheduled for last week, but were delayed after prosecutors raised new arguments for why Davis poses a threat to the public if he is released.
MAREN MORRIS DIVORCE SETTLED – Maren Morris reached a settlement to resolve her divorce proceedings against singer/songwriter Ryan Hurd, her husband of five years. Under the terms of the deal, Morris, 33, will pay Hurd, 37, $2,100 per month in child support as the two evenly split time with their three-and-a-half-year-old son, Hayes Andrew. Most of the rest of the settlement was stipulated in a prenuptial agreement, which the couple signed in 2018 and updated in 2022.
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 judge issues a ruling in the Hall & Oates lawsuit after the dispute turns public and personal, Young Thug’s RICO trial gets underway in Atlanta with opening statements and witness testimony, Kelly Clarkson wins a California labor law ruling against her ex-husband, and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Hall v. Oates Goes Public
The mysterious legal battle among Hall & Oates got a lot clearer last week – with detailed filings from each artist, a hearing in open court, and a judge’s ruling on how the case will proceed.
To catch you up: After a decades-long, highly-lucrative musical partnership, Daryl Hall sued John Oates last month in Nashville court. The case was initially filed under seal, leading to days of speculation about why the beloved duo had become a house divided. Eventually, unsealed documents showed that Hall had sued Oates to block him from selling part of their joint venture to Primary Wave.
Last Wednesday, the case burst fully into the open. First, Hall filed court papers accusing partner John Oates of leaving him “blindsided” by secretly arranging the Primary Wave deal – an act he called the “ultimate partnership betrayal.” Oates responded hours later, saying he was “tremendously disappointed” that Hall had chosen to make “inflammatory, outlandish, and inaccurate statements about me.”
The filings were packed with new details – not just about the exact contours of the legal dispute, but also about the duo’s broader “divorce,” about Hall’s problems with Primary Wave in particular, and about each man’s personal feelings toward his former partner. Go read our full story here.
A day later, attorneys for the pair headed to court for their first showdown. Hall was repped by Christine Lepera of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, who urged a judge to extend a restraining order preventing Oates from completing the Primary Wave sale until an arbitrator can hear Hall’s objections. Oates was repped by Derek Crownover from Loeb & Loeb LLP, who argued that no such order was necessary.
On Thursday afternoon, Chancellor Russell Perkins agreed to extend the restraining order, blocking Oates from selling to Primary Wave until February or until the arbitrator tackles the case – whichever comes first. Go read our full story explaining why.
The case will now head to private arbitration, for which an arbitrator has already been selected but an initial hearing has not yet been scheduled. Stay tuned…
THE OTHER BIG STORY: YSL RICO Trial Begins
More than 18 months after chart-topping rapper Young Thug was indicted on accusations that he ran a violent Atlanta street gang, he finally headed to trial last week.
In their opening statements, Atlanta prosecutors claimed that Thug was “King Slime,” a powerful boss operating his “Young Slime Life” gang like a “pack” of wolves – even reading a passage from The Jungle Book for jurors. And they defended their controversial use of his music to help prove it.
“We didn’t chase any lyrics to solve any murders,” Adriane Love told jurors. Instead, she said prosecutors in this case “chased the murders and found the lyrics” that pointed to true, specific events.
A day later, Thug’s lawyer responded by telling jurors that his client had been “born into a society filled with despair” and had merely rapped about violent crime because “these are the stories he knew” — and that prosecutors had cherry-picked lyrics that matched the crimes they hoped to pin against him.
“This is the environment he grew up in. These are the people he knew, these are the stories he knew. These are the words he rhymed,” Brian Steel told the jury. “This is art. This is freedom of speech.”
After opening statements concluded, prosecutors began presenting witnesses – a process that is expected to last months.
Other top stories this week…
SINCE U BEEN GONE – Kelly Clarkson won a legal ruling in California that said her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock owes her more than $2.6 million in commissions she paid to him while he serving as her manager. The decision, issued by California’s labor commissioner, said Blackstock had “unlawfully procured” a number of business deals for Clarkson, including her lucrative role as a judge on The Voice, that should have been handled by her talent agents at Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
‘FICTITIOUS’ CONCERTS? – Rapper Polo G sued a European tour booking firm over canceled plans for a string of concerts, claiming that the company continued to advertise the shows anyway — actions he calls “a shocking and outrageous fraud.”
YOUTUBER SLAPPS BACK – YouTube personality Spencer Cornelia — known for his investigative video series on the music industry — prevailed in a defamation lawsuit filed by wealth coach Derek Moneyberg. The case, which concerned YouTube interviews in which Moneyberg was termed a “Charlatan,” was tossed out under California’s anti-SLAPP law – a statute aimed to quash lawsuits that threaten free speech.
TIKTOK BAN BLOCKED – Montana’s first-in-the-nation law banning the video-sharing app TikTok in the state was blocked by a federal judge who ruled that the statute likely violates the First Amendment. The judge ruled that the law “oversteps state power and infringes on the Constitutional right of users and businesses.”
ARETHA ESTATE BATTLE – A judge overseeing the estate of Aretha Franklin awarded real estate to the late star’s sons, citing a handwritten will from 2014 that was found between couch cushions. The ruling came months after a Detroit-area jury said the document was a valid will under Michigan law, despite scribbles and many hard-to-read passages. Franklin had signed it and put a smiley face in the letter “A.”
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 preview of the massive YSL RICO trial in Atlanta in which rapper Young Thug is accused of being the boss of a violent street gang; a flood of sexual abuse cases against music industry bigwigs just before a Thanksgiving deadline; and a lawsuit pitting Hall against Oates over efforts to sell to Primary Wave.
THE BIG STORY: Young Thug Heads to Trial In Atlanta
At the end of 2021, Young Thug was one of hip-hop’s biggest rising stars: a critically-adored rapper with three chart-topping hits, three-chart topping albums, a Grammy for song of the year and his own record label (YSL, short for Young Stoner Life) under Warner Music’s 300 Entertainment.
Two years later, Thug (real name Jeffery Williams) is set to face a grueling trial starting today over allegations he ran a violent Atlanta street gang that committed murders, carjackings and many other crimes over the course of a decade — charges that, if proven, could send him to prison for decades.
Reporter Jewel Wicker will be in the Fulton County courthouse today reporting on opening statements for Billboard, so stay tuned for a full breakdown of the start of the trial.
But before then: To get you up to speed on one of the music industry’s most closely-watched criminal trials in years, I dove deep and broke down every aspect of the case, including the complex RICO charges at the heart of the case; the controversial use of lyrics as evidence; the strange connections to former President Trump; and what exactly to watch for at this week’s trial.
Go read the full story here.
THE OTHER BIG STORY: A Final Flood of Abuse Cases
With New York’s Adult Survivors Act expiring on Thanksgiving, last week saw a flurry of high-profile abuse cases filed just before the deadline – including many against top names in the music industry.
The ASA created a limited window for alleged abuse victims to take legal action over years-old accusations that would typically be barred under the statute of limitations. Over the past year, it was cited in cases against former Recording Academy president/CEO Neil Portnow, label exec Antonio “L.A.” Reid, the estate of late Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun and, earlier this month, an explosive (and quickly settled) rape lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
But as the deadline approached, a wave of cases hit the courts. Many targeted defendants outside the industry, including former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and actor Russell Brand. But many of the biggest names came from the music business. They included:
–Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose, who was accused of sexually assaulting a Penthouse model named Sheila Kennedy in a New York City hotel room in early 1989.
–Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine, who was sued by an unnamed woman for sexual abuse, forcible touching, sexual harassment and retaliation over an incident that allegedly occurred in New York in 2007.
–Actor/singer Jamie Foxx, who was accused of sexual assault and battery by a young woman who claims the singer and actor groped her at a New York restaurant in 2015 after she asked if he would take a photo with her.
–Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was sued again by two more women over allegations of sexual assault, beatings and forced drugging allegedly committed in the early 1990s.
SAY IT AIN’T SO: Hall v. Oates
News broke last week that Daryl Hall was suing John Oates for breach of contract, arguing that his longtime music partner’s plan to sell off his share of their joint venture to Primary Wave would violate the terms of a business agreement the duo had forged.
The lawsuit, which was initially shrouded in mystery because it was filed under seal, is aimed at preventing the sale from closing while the two sides battle in ongoing private arbitration proceedings over the terms of agreement.
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: Mötley Crüe faces a lawsuit claiming the band unceremoniously terminated its longtime guitarist; Kanye West’s Donda Academy is hit with a wrongful termination suit packed with bizarre details; Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler responds to a sexual abuse case; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Mötley Crüe Heads To Court
A private feud between longtime members of the legendary rock band Mötley Crüe has burst into public view.
Crüe co-founder Mick Mars filed a lawsuit last week demanding access to the band’s books — and thus also disclosing for the first time that he and his former bandmates have been locked in private arbitration proceedings for months over the legal mechanics of his exit from the band.
According to Mars, his former “brothers” tossed him to the curb after he said he could no longer tour due to a “tragic” disability called ankylosing spondylitis. The rest of Crüe, on the other hand, says they offered Mars “generous compensation” as a courtesy, but that he instead chose to file an “ugly public lawsuit.”
The case is technically about dry issues like LLC operating agreements. Mars says the band did not have cause to terminate his 25% stake in Crüe’s corporate entities; the band says they all signed an agreement in 2008 that clearly states they owe Mars nothing after he resigned. But each side has also already made much splashier allegations, too.
In his complaint, Mars claimed that Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx “did not play a single note” during a recent tour, and instead essentially mimed along to recorded tracks. In response, the band released sworn statements from touring staffers claiming that it was Mars who had needed backing tracks during concerts: “There were times when he played a completely different song than the rest of the band. This happened at almost every show.”
For a full breakdown of the case against Crüe — including access to the actual complaint Mars filed against the band — go read the entire story here.
Other top stories…
TROUBLE AT SCHOOL – Two former teachers at Kanye West’s Donda Academy filed a lawsuit against the embattled star, alleging wrongful termination, discrimination and unpaid wages. The allegations included bizarre details about West’s controversial school, including that students were fed only sushi and that classes were restricted to the ground floor because West is afraid of stairs.
ROCHESTER CONCERT TRAGEDY – Ronisha Huston, an alleged victim of last month’s deadly stampede at a GloRilla concert in western New York, filed notice that she was formally preparing to sue over the incident. Saying she had suffered emotional distress, Huston’s lawyers need “pre-action discovery” to obtain video footage, emergency plans and other key information from the concert venue.
STEVEN TYLER DENIES ABUSE CLAIMS – The Aerosmith singer denied allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman named Julia Holcomb when she was a minor in the 1970s. The filing raised eyebrows because Tyler’s lawyers argued, among many possible defenses, that Holcomb had possibly consented to his conduct, or that he was immunized from her claims since he had been granted legal custody over her.
TRADEMARK ON A MANTRA? Insomniac Events, a major promoter of dance music events, made waves this week when fans noticed that it had recently filed an application to secure a federal trademark registration on the term “PLUR” — an acronym (peace, love, unity, respect) that has been heavily used in the dance scene since the early ‘90s.
LOVERS & FRIENDS LAWSUIT – Live Nation was hit with a lawsuit over injuries at last year’s Lovers & Friends festival during a stampede triggered by false reports of gunfire. The three fans who filed the case say the concert giant “failed to take basic, reasonable steps” to protect them from such an incident: “Plaintiffs screamed for emergency medical care for their injuries, but none came.”
PANDORA CLAIMS TOSSED – For a second and final time, a California federal judge rejected Pandora’s allegations that comedians have been illegally conspiring to extract unfair prices from the digital streaming service. Those accusations came as counterclaims after the comics sued Pandora, demanding to be paid the spoken-word equivalent of publishing royalties for their underlying jokes.
POP SMOKE KILLER SENTENCED – One of four men charged in the killing of rapper Pop Smoke during a robbery at a Hollywood Hills mansion pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. The man, whose name has not been released because he was a minor when the killing occurred in early 2020, was sentenced to four years and two months in a juvenile facility.
