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It’s Friday, June 16th, and we’ve got a ton of new music! ATEEZ’s new EP is here, Doja Cat is back, Leigh-Anne makes her solo debut and more! Olivia Rodrigo is officially moving into her next era, but will Lana Del Rey be coming with her? ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ season 15 winner Sasha Colby talks […]

RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15 winner Sasha Colby talks about her start in drag, defies drag misconceptions and more for our Billboard Pride cover with Maren Morris. Sasha ColbyOh my gosh, when I was asked … Billboard, the cover of Billboard? Cover girl, oh my goodness. I needed to pinch. I fainted and then I […]

French Montana stopped by Billboard News to talk about the creation of his new film, For Khadija, the rise of Afrobeats, his thoughts on reality TV and more!

French Montana:Never follow people that got all the answers. Follow people that got all the questions. What up? What up? It’s your boy, French Montana, and you’re watching Billboard News!

Rania Aniftos:Hey, everybody! It’s Rania Aniftos with Billboard News, and I’m here with Grammy-nominated rapper and Billboard chart-topper French Montana. So we’re here to talk about such an incredible project that you’ve been working on and it’s finally going to see the light of day, For Khadija. An incredible documentary! Why was now the right time to tell such an intimate story?

French Montana:I’m about to put you on the story. See, I’m really from Africa. You know going through everything I went through in my career, I feel like it finally makes sense. It’s a story, beginning to end of a chapter. It was a chapter when my mother came here, sacrificed for us, and went back after 25 years. And it felt like that was like the closure of us coming, me struggling in the Bronx, not knowing English, being culture shock about the whole move that we made, my father and my mother, him leaving, us getting on welfare and struggling, then for me to be French Montana. My mother didn’t see her family for, like, 25 years.

Rania Aniftos:And it’s true. I mean, spotlighting immigrant voices in that way is so unique, especially when people might see you and they’re like, “Oh, he’s French Montana. What struggles could he have had?” But you have this whole incredible story leading up to this point.

French Montana:Exactly. It’s showing people all the hurdles and taking all the wounds. You know? One thing about the wounds, that’s where the light enters, showing people if you only work on sunny days, you’ll never reach your destination.

Watch the full video above to hear him speak on the rise of Afrobeats, why he’s not a fan of reality TV and more!

Billboard looks back and counts down the top five songs that ruled the summer of 2011. Rania Aniftos2011 was the year of women, with three of the five Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Summer belonging to female powerhouses. First up: Nicki Minaj and her explosive hit “Super Bass.” Rania AniftosThe No. 4 song on […]

Jessie Ware performed at WeHo Pride and chatted with Billboard News about her relationship with her fans, upcoming That! Feels Good! Tour, friendship with Kylie Minogue, love for “Padam Padam’,” performing at her first Pride and more! Tetris Kelly:Hanging out with Jessie Ware at WeHo Pride! So, your album is out. It’s so exciting. Tell […]

Kesha wins a major court victory in her defamation battle with Dr. Luke. Lady Gaga’s Little Monsters were not expecting to see footage from her Chromatica Ball Tour in a commercial. Madonna joins Cher as the only woman to have debuted titles on the Hot 100 in five separate decades. And more! Tetris Kelly:Kesha makes […]

In this episode of Billboard Explains, we take a look at the rise of copyright lawsuits and the significance behind Ed Sheeran‘s case and his win over his track “Thinking Out Loud.”

Producer:Copyright lawsuits are on the rise. Ed Sheeran recently won a copyright lawsuit claim against his Billboard Hot 100 hit “Thinking Out Loud.” While the pop star successfully defended his hit song, it’s actually one of many copyright lawsuits that are bringing music’s most well-known stars into the court.

From Robin Thicke and Pharrell to Katy Perry, why is there a rise in copyright infringement cases? And how does Ed Sheeran’s victory impact the music industry? This is Billboard Explains: Music Copyright Lawsuits.

Let’s first dive into what Sheeran’s copyright case was all about: Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” versus Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” The family of “Let’s Get It On” co-writer Ed Townsend accused Sheeran of copying the chord structure of Gaye’s 1973 hit. The jury ultimately ruled in favor of Sheeran, saying that he didn’t copy any of the elements of the song and created it independently.

This isn’t the first time Marvin Gaye has been involved in a copyright case. In 2013, Gaye’s family claimed Robin Thicke and Pharrell’s song “Blurred Lines” copied Gaye’s 1977 hit song “Got to Give It Up.” Thicke actually told Billboard that Gaye inspired the song, saying in part, “I told him, ‘Pharrell, I wanted to do something kind of like Marvin Gaye’s ‘Got to Give It Up’ that kind of feel because it’s one of my favorite songs of all time.’”

The jury found Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams guilty of copyright infringement, and awarded Marvin Gaye’s estate over $5 million and 50% of future royalties on the song. The verdict of the “Blurred Lines” case jump-started a wave of copyright lawsuits targeting some of music’s biggest hits, from opening guitar riffs to similar melodies, to similar lyrics. So why does this particular case matter? According to Billboard‘s Senior Legal Correspondent Bill Donahue, the “Blurred Lines” lawsuit created confusion and fear among songwriters and artists at the time. So this case shows that the pendulum is swinging the other way. Basically, Sheeran winning this case helps other songwriters in the future. He says it best:

Ed Sheeran:“These codes are common building blocks, which were used to create music long before ‘Let’s Get It On’ was written, and will be used to make music long after we’re all gone.”

Producer:So what’s the impact on the music industry as a whole? Things are starting to change when it comes to copyright cases. Many artists are choosing to go to court and fight for their work as opposed to settling out of court. They want to prove they’re innocent of the claims and not become a target for a cash grab. And the music industry as a whole is learning more about what makes a legitimate copyright case, actual stolen music and lyrics versus common musical elements.

Ed Sheeran:“If the jury had decided this matter the other way, we might as well say goodbye to the creative freedom of songwriters. We need to be able to write our original music and engage in independent creation without worrying at every step of the way that such creativity will be wrongly called into question.”

Producer:All in all, while Sheeran’s win won’t necessarily stop future lawsuits from happening, the win still marks a significant moment in music history.

Papa Roach’s music hasn’t softened in its nearly three-decade career, but the four-piece metal band from Northern California has become wiser with age and experience. “We’re growing as people,” guitarist Jerry Horton tells Billboard’s Behind the Setlist podcast, “and our music has matured as well.” The trick, he says, is “about “finding a way to grow up but not lose our edge.”

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The band rose to prominence with a rap-metal hybrid that rubbed elbows with Limp Bizkit, Slipknot and Korn at the turn of the century. Papa Roach gained popularity in 2000 with “Last Resort,” a song about suicidal ideation built around an instantly memorable guitar riff. That song sent the band’s Dreamworks Records debut, Infest, to No. 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

“I use to bash the microphone into my head and just bleed,” says singer Jacoby Shaddix of the performing in the band’s early days. “I was burning myself with cigarettes just to get a reaction.”

“For the time period, for how old we were and that period of our lives, and also the type of music we were doing, all of that went hand in hand,” says Horton. “And I feel like for that time period, it wasn’t necessarily wrong. That’s just where we were. And pretty much all of our peers were mentally and stylistically — that’s just where everybody was at.”

The band’s latest album, Ego Trip, finds Papa Roach growing as businesspeople, too. After releasing albums for both major and independent labels, Papa Roach decided to release Ego Trip through its own New Noize imprint. “We always go back to something Davie Bowie said: ‘I had to become a better businessman to become a better artist.’,” says Horton. “It just kind of hit us in the face. We’re just like, this is what we need to do. Here it is, time to seize it.”

Launching a record label was a risk, but it felt right, says Horton. “It just feels like something we needed to do — whether we fell on our faces or not.” That means the buck stops with the band. “You can’t just say a bunch of shit,” says Shaddix. “It’s like, alright, let’s talk about how we’re going to create this and then let’s go find the people to do it, and then execute it.”

Listen to the entire interview with Shaddix and Horton at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Stitcher, Amazon Music and Audible.

Thanks to The Weeknd’s new song “Popular,” Madonna is back where she’s been many times before: on the Billboard Hot 100. “Popular” (also featuring Playboi Carti) from the new HBO series The Idol lands at No. 43 on this week’s Hot 100 — Madonna’s highest-charting song in more than a decade, since “Give Me All […]

Country singer Morgan Evans opens up to Billboard’s Executive West Coast and Nashville editor Melinda Newman on how his divorce from Kelsea Ballerini inspired his song ‘Over For You’, the inspiration behind the cover art for his EP ‘Life Upside Down’, and more. Morgan Evans 0:00I’ve got a couple of friends from Australia here that […]