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Universal Music, Sony Music and Concord are suing the Internet Archive over a project to digitize old vinyl records from Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby and other iconic artists, calling it “blatant” copyright infringement under a “smokescreen” of preservation.
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In a complaint filed Friday in Manhattan federal court, the labels took aim at the Internet Archive’s “Great 78 Project,” in which thousands of physical records have been digitized and made available to users for free. They called the project “wholesale theft of generations of music.”
“The Great 78 website is a massive, unauthorized, digital record store of recordings,” lawyers for the music companies wrote. “Although Internet Archive describes the Great 78 Project’s goal as ‘the preservation, research and discovery of 78 rpm records,’ the Great 78 Project is actually an illegal effort to willfully defy copyright law on an astonishing scale.”
Though they claim “hundreds of thousands” of songs have been illegally copied, the labels are specifically suing over 2,749 songs – every single one of which, they say, is already available on legal digital services. They include iconic tracks like Crosby’s “White Christmas” and Sinatra’s “I’ve Got the World on a String.”
“Defendants [cannot] justify their activities as necessary to preserve historical recordings,” the music companies wrote. “These recordings face no danger of being lost, forgotten, or destroyed.”
The lawsuit is hardly the Internet Archive’s first dust-up with copyright law. The group fought to invalidate legislation passed by Congress in the 1990s that added years onto the length of a copyright’s term of protection, and is currently embroiled in a lawsuit filed by the major book publishers over a COVID-era library project that scanned physical books and lent them to users for free. Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that Internet Archive’s project was not a legal fair use of the publishers’ books.
In Friday’s complaint, the music companies cited the Internet Archive’s “long history of opposing copyright laws” and previous efforts to “improperly … wrap its infringing conduct in the ill-fitting mantle of fair use.”
“Having failed repeatedly in Congress and the courts, Internet Archive now chooses to simply willfully disobey the copyright laws of which it is acutely aware,” lawyers for the music companies wrote.
At issue in Friday’s complaint are so-called pre-1972 songs – a category of music that was previously not covered by federal sound recording copyrights. But in 2018, federal lawmakers extended such protection to the old songs as part of the Music Modernization Act. In their complaint, the music companies said they were suing to “vindicate the rights Congress has granted creators in pre-1972 sound recordings.”
“When Defendants exploit Plaintiffs’ sound recordings without authorization, neither Plaintiffs nor their artists see a dime,” the companies wrote. “Not only does this harm Plaintiffs and the artists or their heirs by depriving them of compensation, but it undermines the value of music.”
The lawsuit is seeking so-called statutory damages for each copyrighted song allegedly infringed, which could total $412 million if fully granted. But such damages totals are heavily litigated and could be substantially lower if the case ever reaches a final judgment.
In addition to naming the Internet Archive itself as a defendant, the lawsuit also individually names the group’s founder, Brewster Kahle, as well as George Blood, an audio engineer who allegedly worked on the Great 78 project.
The Internet Archive did not immediately return a request for comment.
Read the entire complaint filed against the Internet Archive here:
The organizer of a Malaysian music festival is seeking 12.3 million ringgit ($2.7 million) in losses from British band The 1975, after its lead singer’s on-stage protest of the country’s anti-gay laws prompted authorities to shut down the festival, the company’s lawyer said Friday (Aug. 11).
Future Sound Asia sent a letter to the band on Monday demanding compensation over a breach of contract, said FSA lawyer David Dinesh Mathew.
During the July 21 performance, Matty Healy used profanities in his speech criticizing the Malaysian government’s stance against homosexuality, before kissing bassist Ross MacDonald during the opening show at the Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur. Footage of the performance was posted on social media and sparked backlash in the predominantly Muslim country.
In Malaysia, homosexuality is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison and caning.
The government slammed Healy’s conduct, blacklist the band from the country and cut short the three-day festival. Some in the LGBTQ+ community also took to social media to criticize the band, saying Healy had disrupted the work of activists pushing for change and also endangered the community.
In the letter, Mathew said the band had given a written pledge before the show that it would adhere to all local guidelines and regulations. Instead, Healy’s “use of abusive language, equipment damage, and indecent stage behaviour” caused financial losses to FSA.
“Unfortunately, the assurance was ignored,” Mathew said Friday in a written statement to The Associated Press. “Their actions have had repercussions on local artists and small businesses, who relied on the festival for creative opportunities and their livelihoods.”
As such, he said FSA demanded that The 1975 acknowledge their liability and pay 12.3 million ringgit in compensation for damages incurred. On its website, FSA said it is in the midst of accommodating all refund requests.
The lawyer said FSA will take legal action in the courts of England if the band fails to respond by Monday, a week after the legal letter of claim was sent.
The band canceled its shows in Taiwan and Jakarta, Indonesia, after the fiasco in the Malaysian capital. It wasn’t the first such provocative on-stage display by Healy in the name of LGBTQ+ rights: In 2019, he kissed a male fan during a concert in the United Arab Emirates, which outlaws same-sex sexual activity.
Following his 10-year prison sentence this week for shooting Megan Thee Stallion, Tory Lanez took to Instagram late Thursday (Aug. 10) to maintain his innocence and declare that he won’t “stop fighting till I come out victorious.”
Lanez (real name: Daystar Peterson) — who was convicted on three felony counts in December over the 2020 shooting — addressed the note to his “Umbrellas” fan group.
“I have never let a hard time intimidate me,” he wrote. “I will never never let no jail time eliminate me. Regardless of how they try to spin my words, I have always maintained my innocence and I always will.”
He writes that during his sentencing hearing, he took responsibility for “verbal and intimate moments that I shared with the parties involved,” but not for the shooting itself. “In no way shape or form was I apologizing for the charges I’m being wrongfully convicted of. I remain on the stance that I refuse to apologize for something that I did not do.”
Tuesday’s decadelong prison sentence for Lanez — which comes more than three years after the July 2020 shooting — was more than the probation sought by his lawyers but less than the 13 years prosecutors had suggested. The shooting occurred after Lanez, Megan Thee Stallion (real name: Megan Pete) and their friend Kelsey Harris left a party. According to prosecutors, Meg exited the vehicle and Lanez shot at her feet while shouting, “Dance, bi—!” Lanez was charged with the shooting in October 2022.
Read Lanez’s new statement in full below:
To The Umbrellas,
I have never let a hard time intimidate me. I will never never let no jail time eliminate me. Regardless of how they try to spin my words, I have always maintained my innocence and I always will.
This week in court I took responsibility for all verbal and intimate moments that I shared with the parties involved. … That’s it.
In no way shape or form was I apologizing for the charges I’m being wrongfully convicted of. I remain on the stance that I refuse to apologize for something that I did not do.
I’ve faced adversity my whole life and every time it looked like I would lose, I came out on top. This is nothing but another moment where my back is against the wall and I refuse to stop fighting till I come out victorious.
Tough times don’t last, tough people do.
To my family, friends and umbrellas thank you for your continued support.
See you soon.
Apple will get to keep rules barring developers from directing users to avenues that allow them to bypass a commission on sales in the App Store, where the company exacts a toll of up to 30 percent on all transactions, pending an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Elena Kagan on Wednesday denied a bid […]
Lizzo could be facing further legal action on the heels of a lawsuit filed by three tour dancers who claimed in a complaint filed last week in Los Angeles that the “Juice” singer subjected them to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment that included allegations that they were pressured to touch nude dancers during a live sex show.
According to a statement from attorney Ron Zambrano — who is representing dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez — “we have received at least six inquiries from other people with similar stories since we filed the complaint.”
Zambrano added that, “Noelle, Crystal and Arianna have bravely spoken out and shared their experiences, opening the door for others to feel empowered to do the same. Some of the claims we are reviewing involve allegations of a sexually charged environment and failure to pay employees and may be actionable, but it is too soon to say.”
At press time a spokesperson for Lizzo had not returned a request for comment on Zambrano’s statement.
The complaint filed last week on behalf of Davis, Williams and Rodriguez accused Lizzo (born Melissa Jefferson) and her Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. of a wide range of legal wrongdoing, including racial and religious discrimination. Among the allegations in the suit were claims that Lizzo pushed the dancers to attend a sex show in Amsterdam’s famed Red Light District and pressured them to engage with the performers.
The lawsuit also claimed that the captain of Lizzo’s dance team, Shirlene Quigley, forced her religious beliefs on the plaintiffs and took repeated actions that made them uncomfortable, including commenting about their virginity and simulating oral sex on a banana in front of them.
In one of the most notable allegations, the suit claims that Lizzo, who has made body positivity a key aspect of her brand, “called attention” to a dancer’s weight gain after a performance at the South by Southwest festival.
Last Thursday, Lizzo issued her only response to date to the suit, calling the allegations “false” and “sensationalized stories” in a statement on Twitter. “I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last few days,” Lizzo wrote. “I am very open with my sexuality and expressing myself but I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something I am not.”
She said that the allegations that she and her company created a hostile work environment that included allegations of religious and racial discrimination were “unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed.”
Lizzo specifically addressed the allegation that she had “called attention” to a dancer’s weight gain, saying, “There is nothing I take more seriously than the respect we deserve as women in the world. I know what it feels like to be body shamed on a daily basis and would absolutely never criticize or terminate an employee because of their weight.”
Though Lizzo did not specifically address the individual accusations in the suit in her statement, she called them “sensationalized stories [that] are coming from former employees who have already publicly admitted that they were told their behavior on tour was inappropriate and unprofessional.”
In a response, Zambrano said Lizzo’s statement “only adds to our clients’ emotional distress”; at press time the names of the alleged six other people reportedly contacted Zambrano after the suit was filed had not been released. Billboard has reached out to one of Lizzo’s lawyers, Marty Singer, for comment on Zambrano’s statement but had not heard back at press time; according to NBC News, Singer had recently called the lawsuit “specious.”
Following the suit and Lizzo’s statement, filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison — who at one point had been attached to direct the singer’s Love, Lizzo documentary — explained on her socials why she left the project. “In 2019, I traveled a bit with Lizzo to be the director of her documentary. I walked away after about 2 weeks. I was treated with such disrespect by her,” Allison wrote.
“I witnessed how arrogant, self-centered, and unkind she is. I was not protected and was thrown into a sh-tty situation with little support,” she added. Allison also said her gut told her to leave the project, and that she is “grateful” that she did, adding that she “felt gaslit and was deeply hurt.” At the time Lizzo’s reps had not returned Billboard‘s requests for comment on Allison’s claims.
Earlier this year, Amazon Studios announced that auditions had begun for the second season of Watch Out for the Big Grrls, a series that chronicled the singer/rapper’s search for her next crew of “BIG GRRRL” dancers to accompany on her 2022 tour; according to NBC, among the six unnamed people Zambrano has talked to, some said they worked on the Amazon series.
In addition, on Tuesday, the Jay-Z-founded Made In America festival, which was to feature headline sets from Lizzo and SZA, announced that it was pulling the plug on this year’s edition due to “severe circumstances outside of production control.” A statement from organizers did not give specific reasons for the cancellation and a spokesperson for promoter Live Nation referred Billboard to the statement without offering additional comment. NBC reported that before the suit against Lizzo was filed, an unnamed source close to the production said that ticket sales for this year’s Made in America fest in Philadelphia were “not good.”
Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday (Aug. 8) for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot, capping off three years of legal drama over the violent 2020 incident.
The long sentence for Lanez (real name Daystar Peterson) comes after he was convicted in December on three felony counts over the incident, in which he shot at the feet of Megan (real name Megan Pete) during an argument after a pool party in the Hollywood Hills.
Handed down by Judge David Herriford, the sentence was much harsher than the probation sought by Lanez’s lawyers but less than the 13 years that prosecutors had requested. Neither Tory’s lawyers nor the DA’s office immediately returned a request for comment.
According to The Associated Press, Lanez pleaded for mercy ahead of the sentencing, asking Judge Herriford for probation or a minimal prison sentence: “If I could turn back the series of events that night and change them, I would,” he reportedly said. “The victim was my friend. The victim is someone I still care for to this day.”
“Everything I did wrong that night, I take full responsibility for,” he added.
For his part, Judge Herriford reportedly said it was “difficult to reconcile” the caring person described by Lanez’s supporters in statements delivered in court on Monday (Aug. 7) with the man who shot Megan: “Sometimes good people do bad things. Actions have consequences, and there are no winners in this case.”
Tuesday’s hearing occurred nearly three years after the July 12, 2020, shooting, which happened as a driver was shuttling Lanez, Megan and her assistant and friend Kelsey Harris from a party at Kylie Jenner’s house. According to prosecutors, Megan got out of the vehicle during an argument and began walking away when Lanez shouted, “Dance, bitch!”, and proceeded to shoot at her feet.
Following the incident, Megan initially told police officers that she had cut her foot stepping on broken glass, but days later alleged that she had been shot. Lanez was eventually charged with the shooting in October 2022.
During the trial, Lanez’s lawyers made their best effort to sow doubt over who had pulled the trigger, painting a scenario in which Harris could have been the shooter. But a key defense witness offered confusing eyewitness testimony, and prosecutors pointed to an earlier interview in which Harris pinned the blame squarely on Lanez. Megan herself offered powerful testimony that Lanez had been the one to shoot her; neither Lanez nor the driver took the witness stand.
Ahead of sentencing, prosecutors had sought a 13-year sentence for Lanez, telling the judge Lanez had “waged a campaign to humiliate and re-traumatize the victim.” They said the rapper “not only lacks remorse” but also is “clearly incapable of accepting any responsibility for his own actions.”
In their own filing last week, Lanez’s lawyers asked the judge to sentence him to only probation. They maintained that he was innocent, but said that even if he had committed the crimes, that his punishment should be lessened in light of “childhood trauma” and “alcohol-use disorder.”
Following sentencing, Lanez can still appeal his conviction at a state appellate court. But such a challenge will face an uphill climb: In 2022, California appeals courts overturned a defendant’s guilty verdict in just 19% of cases.
Iggy Azalea is clarifying reports that she has spoken out in support of rapper Tory Lanez (born Daystar Peterson) as the “Say It’ MC is awaiting sentencing in his felony assault and weapons case in connection with his attack on Megan Thee Stallion in July 2020. The Associated Press reported on Monday that Azalea was among the dozens of people who wrote the judge in the case, with her note asking that the sentence be “transformative, not life-destroying.”
In a series of tweets, however, Azalea wrote, “I have not been in touch with tory for months, I have no reason to be, but I do wish him well,” adding, “I don’t ‘support’ anyone. the whole thing is full of oddities. My letter never mentioned anything in regard to what happened that night.”
Lanez’s sentencing will stretch into Tuesday (Aug. 8) and in a written statement, Megan described the ongoing trauma she has suffered since Lanez shot her in the feet after they left a Hollywood party together three years ago. “Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” Megan said in a statement read by Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta. “Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.”
Megan, who testified during the trial, said she struggled with appearing in person to read the statement, but said she, “simply could not bring myself to be in a room with Tory again.”
In a further clarification, Azalea noted that she was told her statement would be for the judge’s eyes only. “Yet it’s being discussed in public? I never intended to publicly comment,” she wrote. “Iam not in support of throwing away ANY ones life if we can give reasonable punishments that are rehabilitative instead. I support prison reform. Period.”
Further explaining why she wrote a statement, Azalea said she was asked to share her “genuine experience and the type of punishment I think he deserves: I did.” In another tweet Azalea lamented that the statement became a topic of conversation on Monday because, in her words, “it’s not really an explosive revelation. Yes: he should be held accountable. No: the charges don’t warrant 5plus in prison.”
She argued that “most agree” with her position because “it’s a reasonable take.”
Though Megan did not come to court to make her statement in person, she asked Judge David Herriford not to take that as a sign of indifference and urged him to issue a stiff sentence to Lanez. Sentencing hearings typically take only a few hours, but Herriford allowed attorneys for each side to argue factors for Lanez’s potential sentence, allowing seven witnesses to give statement’s about the rapper’s charitable works, his childhood trauma and his status as a father to a six-year-old son.
Prosecutors have asked the judge to hand down a 13-year sentence to Lanez, 31, who was convicted of three felonies: assault with a semiautomatic firearm, having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. Lanez’s lawyers have argued in a sentencing memo that he should get only probation and be released from jail to enter a residential substance abuse program.
See Azalea’s tweets below.
For the record:1. I have not been in touch with tory for months, I have no reason to be, but I do wish him well. 2. I don’t “support” anyone.the whole thing is full of oddities. My letter never mentioned anything in regard to what happened that night. 3. I was told this…— NOT IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) August 8, 2023
I really hate that this is todays discourse online because it’s not really an explosive revelation. Yes: he should be held accountable. No: the charges don’t warrant 5plus in prison. Most agree with that sentiment because it’s a reasonable take. This is not news worthy. 🤷♀️— NOT IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) August 8, 2023
Las Vegas police have dropped their criminal investigation into last weekend’s incident in which Cardi B threw her microphone at a fan who had splashed her with a drink. Though a police report was filed by the alleged victim Sunday (July 30), the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed to Billboard on Thursday (Aug. 3) […]
Within hours of Lizzo breaking her silence on the lawsuit filed by three of her ex-dancers — who allege that the star sexually harassed her employees and facilitated a hostile work environment — plaintiffs Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis and Noelle Rodriguez have already responded.
Sitting down for a live interview with CNN This Morning, the three women agreed that they were disappointed by the statement Lizzo had posted hours earlier, two days after the suit was first filed. In her written statement, the Grammy winner insisted that their claims were “false allegations” and “sensationalized stories,” adding, “I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last few days.”
“I want to say that reading it just kind of furthered … my disappointment in regards to the situation, just because the facts are the facts,” Williams told host Phil Mattingly. “What we experienced and what we witnessed is absolutely what happened. There’s nothing sensationalized about it. So, all that I can hope is that people focus more so on the facts rather than the court of public opinion.”
“Looking at the response from Lizzo was so disheartening because she was there,” Davis agreed. “She was there. And to fix your hand to write on a piece of paper that you don’t believe, that you discredit everything we’re saying is incredibly frustrating.”
Davis went on to double down on some of the claims she made in the lawsuit, including one instance where she felt Lizzo body-shamed her, and another in which she was allegedly pressured to engage with nude performers at a sex show in Amsterdam. Davis also claimed in the lawsuit that Lizzo had the dancers re-audition for their spots as backup dancers on tour, an allegedly “excruciating” process that led to Davis wetting herself on stage out of fear of what might happen if she left to use the bathroom.
Lizzo’s statement did not address the accusations in the lawsuit individually, but she noted that the allegations were “coming from former employees who have already publicly admitted that they were told their behavior on tour was inappropriate and unprofessional.” The star — who is known for being outspoken about body positivity — added in her statement: “With passion comes hard work and high standards. Sometimes I have to make hard decisions but it’s never my intention to make anyone feel uncomfortable or like they aren’t valued as an important part of the team.”
The plaintiffs’ attorney Ron Zambrano — who was also on CNN This Morning — added that he “one hundred percent” expects more people to come forward soon with more stories of harassment or toxic work conditions, which he believes will back up Davis, Rodriguez and Williams’ claims. “People have already come on social media to support our clients,” the lawyer said. “People have already reached out to my office through social media. I believe more people will come forward.”
Watch the interview below:
“It’s this thing in the dance industry that you have to shut up and take whatever you get and just be grateful for whatever crumbs you get as a dancer.”Lizzo has denied the “false accusations” made in a lawsuit brought by three of her former dancers. We get their reaction: pic.twitter.com/z7P3LO9Yb4— CNN This Morning (@CNNThisMorning) August 3, 2023
Triller has settled a lawsuit from Sony Music accusing it of showing “brazen contempt for the intellectual property rights” of its artists by ceasing to pay license fees for the use of the company’s songs on the social video app. The deal was reached on July 21 after a federal judge overseeing the case sided […]