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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: Years after it was first filed, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a lawsuit claiming Ed Sheeran’s 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud” infringed Marvin Gaye‘s famed 1973 jam “Let’s Get It On.”
The decision is the latest win for Sheeran in a nine-year legal odyssey over two songs that do, in fact, sound pretty similar to many listeners. Spin described “Thinking” as “an incredibly obvious successor” to Gaye’s song, and countless YouTube accounts mashed them up. Even Sheeran himself seemed to agree: In an infamous video clip, he was captured toggling between the two at a 2014 concert.
He was sued over those similarities in 2016 by the daughter of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the 1973 tune with Gaye, but that case ended with a high-profile jury verdict that said Sheeran and his co-writers had independently created their song. He was sued again in 2018 by Structured Asset Sales (SAS), an entity owned by industry executive David Pullman that controls a different stake in Townsend’s copyrights. But in November, a federal appeals court tossed that case, too, ruling the songs share only basic “musical building blocks” that all songwriters are free to use.
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With Monday’s move by SCOTUS, which will allow that decision to stand, is Sheeran’s long copyright nightmare finally over? Not quite yet.
Back in 2020, Pullman’s company filed yet another case over “Thinking” — something of a creative gambit to get around shortcomings of the earlier lawsuits. A judge had ruled that Townsend’s copyrights covered only the basic sheet music to “Let’s Get It On,” and not Gaye’s famous recorded version you’ve heard countless times. So SAS’s lawyers filed for an entirely new copyright on the recorded version and then sued Sheeran for infringing it.
Can they do that? Unclear. The newer lawsuit has been paused for years while the earlier case played out in court, meaning a judge has not yet ruled on whether the get-a-new-copyright maneuver is legally viable in the first place. But after Monday’s move by the Supreme Court, the case will now be reopened for action.
Speaking to Billboard on Monday, each side previewed the battle ahead. Pullman said Sheeran and his co-defendants “fear” the sound recording and vowed that his newer case “will now go forward.” Meanwhile, Sheeran’s attorney, Donald Zakarin, stressed that his client had already been cleared by a jury of his peers.
“Pullman’s completely unauthorized and improper purported registration of the Marvin Gaye recording of ‘Let’s Get It On,’ 50 years after it was created, will not change that fact,” Zakarin said. “If he truly believed that the second case he filed was so compelling — which it is not — he would not have spent the last two years pursuing his failed first case.”
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…
SMOKEY ROBINSON UPDATE – Facing a rape lawsuit from his former housekeepers, the Motown legend argued in new court filings that his accusers are trying to slow-walk the case to gain maximum leverage for an extortionate settlement payout, including by dealing a financial blow to his ongoing tour. His lawyers say attorneys for the housekeepers want to “let the lawsuit linger publicly while the Robinsons have to live every day under the unfair specter of public opinion.”
IT NEVER ENDS – Amid their bruising legal battle over the movie It End With Us, Blake Lively asked a federal judge to block Justin Baldoni’s continued efforts to see her texts with Taylor Swift, arguing her nemesis shouldn’t be allowed to drag the pop superstar into the court battle just to generate “sensational headlines.” Separately in the same messy fight, Lively moved to subpoena music executive Scooter Braun, seeking to find out what the HYBE America boss knows about Baldoni’s alleged smear campaign against her.
DIDDY TRIAL CONTINUES – The sex-trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs continued into a sixth week, as the prosecution nears the conclusion of its case. Week Five was dominated by testimony from “Jane,” a former girlfriend who says the star coerced her into taking part in the “freak-off” sex parties at the heart of the case — and by a brief moment where Ye (formerly Kanye West) stopped by the courthouse. Week Six kicked off with the judge dismissing a juror for giving inconsistent answers about where he lives — a ruling that rejected warnings by Combs’ attorneys that the dispute was a “thinly veiled effort to dismiss a Black juror.”
MORE AI LAWSUITS – Artificial intelligence music startups Suno and Udio were hit with new copyright lawsuits — this time, proposed class actions on behalf of independent artists who have been “left without a seat at the table” in the high-profile litigation filed by Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony Music. The cases, filed by a country singer named Tony Justice on behalf of “thousands” of indie artists, came weeks after news broke that the majors were negotiating potential settlements with the two tech firms that would see them license their music for AI training.
MEGAN GAG ORDER – A federal judge issued a gag order in Megan Thee Stallion’s defamation lawsuit against gossip blogger Milagro Gramz over the Tory Lanez shooting, barring both sides from talking about the case. The ruling cited warnings from the star’s lawyers that Gramz’s ongoing posts about Megan had sparked “severely critical and derogatory comments” about the star that could potentially “incite violence.”
R. KELLY WANTS OUT – The disgraced R&B star asked a federal judge to cut short his 30-plus-year sentence for racketeering, sexual abuse and child pornography, claiming jail officials tried to solicit a member of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang to kill him. In later filings, Kelly’s lawyers claimed he’d been placed in solitary confinement as retaliation, and that he’d been rushed to the hospital after officials gave him a lethal quantity of his medications. Prosecutors denied the allegations, calling them “deeply unserious” and the “behavior of an abuser and a master manipulator” on full display: “This court should not allow Kelly to turn its docket into a grocery store checkout aisle tabloid,” prosecutors wrote.
50 CENT HORROR FIGHT – The producers of SkillHouse, a horror movie starring 50 Cent, responded to the rapper’s recent lawsuit aimed at blocking its premiere next month, blasting the case as “a baseless and last-minute shakedown.” Fifty claims he never signed off on the movie and hasn’t been paid, but the producers argued that they have “a mountain of documentary evidence” that he did, in fact, agree to appear in and promote the flick.
DOXXING DISPUTE – A Los Angeles judge ruled that the hip-hop powerhouse Top Dawg Entertainment must face claims that the company “doxxed” two women after they sued the record label for sexual harassment and assault. The judge refused to dismiss allegations that the company broke a newly enacted California law outlawing doxxing — revealing someone’s identity non-consensually — by including the names of the two “Jane Doe” accusers in a response statement that called the lawsuit a “shakedown.”
MANSLAUGHTER PLEA – The Atlanta rapper Silento, best known for his 2015 chart-topper “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to fatally shooting his cousin in 2021. Facing a looming trial, the 27-year-old rapper avoided murder charges by admitting to voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, gun possession and concealing a death, crimes he said he’d committed while mentally ill.
THE SARCASM DEFENSE – Karol G and UMG fired back at a copyright lawsuit claiming she lifted key elements of “Gatúbela,” a track on her chart-topping album Mañana Será Bonito, from an earlier song. In the filing, they denied claims that one of the song’s producers effectively admitted to the theft in an Instagram comment — arguing that he posted it “sarcastically” and that it clearly wasn’t an admission of liability.
TORTIOUS REUNION? Música mexicana singer-songwriter Codiciado filed a lawsuit against his old record label, Rancho Humilde, and former bandmates in the ensemble Grupo Codiciado, claiming they stole his intellectual property by getting the band back together under the name Los Codicia2 after he went solo.
DISCRIMINATION DEAL – Nas’ record label and media company, Mass Appeal, inked a settlement with a white former executive, Melissa Cooper, who claimed that she was the target of discrimination and forced out because of her race. The deal, the terms of which were not disclosed, will resolve a lawsuit in which Cooper claimed that she had been subject to animosity because she was a “white woman working in hip-hop.”
PHOTO FIGHT – Robin Thicke was hit with a copyright lawsuit for allegedly posting paparazzi pictures of himself on Instagram without paying to license the images. The case, filed by celebrity photo agency BackGrid USA, is the latest in a string of such lawsuits over artists posting themselves to socials — cases that have targeted Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber and others.
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.
THE BIG STORY: The Beastie Boys and Universal Music Group both reached settlements to end copyright lawsuits in which they accused Chili’s of using their songs in videos posted to TikTok, Instagram and other platforms – part of a flood of recent litigation over music on social media.
The cases, filed last year, claimed the restaurant chain featured copyrighted music in what amounted to advertisements on social media. The UMG case involved songs by Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg and dozens of other artists, but the problem was particularly galling for the Beastie Boys, a group that’s long been famously opposed to their music appearing in ads.
When it comes to music, social media has increasingly become a legal minefield for brands. TikTok, Instagram and other services provide their users with huge libraries of fully licensed songs to play over their videos, but those tracks are strictly for personal use and cannot be used for commercial videos. That kind of content requires a separate “synch” license, just like any conventional advertisement on TV.
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That distinction appears to have been lost on many brands. Sony filed a lawsuit against Marriott last year for allegedly using nearly 1,000 of its songs in social media posts, and Kobalt and other publishers sued more than a dozen NBA teams over the same thing a few months later. In March, Sony sued the University of Southern California for allegedly using Michael Jackson and AC/DC songs on in videos hyping its college sports teams. Then last month, Warner Music filed a case against cookie chain Crumbl, claiming it used songs by Lizzo, Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande and Beyoncé without clearing them.
What comes next? For music owners, you should take a swing through TikTok and see if any big companies are profiting off your songs. For brand owners, experts tell Billboard they need to be taking “proactive steps” to fix the problem before it turns into a costly lawsuit.
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…
DIDDY TRIAL GOES ON – The Diddy trial continued in its second week, with blockbuster testimony from Kid Cudi about how he believes that the indicted mogul once broke into his house and ordered someone to torch his Porsche with a Molotov cocktail. To get up to speed on the trial, go read our full recap of the first two weeks.
LIL WAYNE LAWSUIT – Darius “Deezle” Harrison, a producer on Lil Wayne’s hit album 2008’s Tha Carter III, sued Universal Music Group over allegations that he’s owed more than 10 years’ worth of royalties from the chart-topping record – a figure he says totals more than $3 million. His lawyers say he has not been paid royalties from the album in over a decade.
HITTING BACK – Months after hip-hop producer Madlib filed a lawsuit against his former manager and business partner Eothen “Egon” Alapatt, the exec sued him right back — blasting him for “having the audacity to bring this mean-spirited personal action.” The countersuit accused Madlib of a wide range of “misconduct” following the sudden end of their long partnership, including promising to release music by the late Mac Miller that he doesn’t own.
IS IT OVER NOW? – Justin Baldoni dropped his subpoena of Taylor Swift in his messy legal battle against her friend Blake Lively – that Swift’s reps had fiercely criticized as “tabloid clickbait.” Baldoni’s lawyers had sought communications between the Swift and Lively teams, citing anonymous accusations that Lively asked Swift to delete text messages and demanded a statement of support. But a judge quickly struck those claims from the case docket as improper, irrelevant and “potentially libelous.”
LILES CLAIMS EXTORTION – Record exec Kevin Liles claimed that a rapper named Lady Luck was trying to extort him by falsely accusing him of sexual assault in the 2000s. He said her lawyers threatened to publicize the “utterly false and horrendous allegations” if he didn’t pay them $30 million: “I intend to vigorously fight any complaint she may file and will take whatever legal action is necessary against her and the attorneys who have participated in this attempted shakedown.” The new dispute is unrelated to another sexual assault lawsuit against Liles filed by an unnamed woman earlier this year, which he is seeking to have dismissed.
MEGAN BLASTS TORY – Megan Thee Stallion’s legal team fired back at recent claims of new evidence that would exonerate Tory Lanez, who was convicted in 2022 of shooting the rapper. Lanez’s supporters say there’s new surveillance footage and a new witness who can ID a different shooter, but Megan’s lawyers issued a detailed report rejecting those claims: “One by one, their misleading statements unravel and all that is left is the simple truth: he was convicted by overwhelming evidence.”
BOWLING ALLEY BRAWL – DaBaby won a court order tossing out assault and battery claims over a 2022 bowling-alley brawl with Brandon Curiel, the brother of his ex-girlfriend DaniLeigh, after a judge ruled that the rapper had not been properly served for years. Though the case against DaBaby was dismissed, the rapper could still be on the hook financially as the case continues against the bowling alley where the attack allegedly occurred.
FORTNITE PATENT VERDICT – Epic Games, the company behind the video game Fortnite, defeated a $32.5 million patent lawsuit over animated in-game concerts put on by Travis Scott and Ariana Grande. A company called Utherverse Digital claimed Epic infringed its virtual reality patents when it staged the virtual concerts for tens of millions of Fortnite gamers during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a jury in Seattle said neither the Scott nor the Grande concert used Utherverse’s technology.
THE BIG STORY: Jennifer Lopez is facing copyright lawsuits over paparazzi pictures — of herself.
In complaints filed this week in federal court, photographer Edwin Blanco and photo agency BackGrid USA accused the star of violating their rights by reposting images of herself outside a Golden Globes pre-party in January.
A star getting sued for posting a picture of herself might sound unusual, but it’s exceedingly common. Over the last few years, Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Emily Ratajkowski, LeBron James, Katy Perry and others have all faced similar cases.
Unfortunately for J. Lo, the law is pretty clear: Photographers own the copyrights to the images that they take, and using them without a license constitutes infringement. Simply appearing in an image does not give a celebrity co-ownership of it, nor does it give them the right to repost it for free.
As we’ve written here previously, that probably seems unfair to stars hounded by paparazzi. When Khloe Kardashian was hit with such a case in 2018, she said as much: “They can legally stalk me and harass me and then on top of it all I can’t even use the pictures of myself they take LOL what the f— is this,” the reality star wrote on social media.
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Those arguments haven’t gotten much play in court. When Ratajkowski was sued, she briefly argued she had legally re-used an “exploitative image” to criticize the “harassing and relentless behavior of paparazzi.” But the vast majority of these cases quickly end in small settlements — and the Lopez case is unlikely to be any different.
For all the details on the case against J. Lo, go read our story on the new lawsuits from Billboard‘s Rachel Scharf. And for more details on how these cases work, go read my in-depth explainer.
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.
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DIDDY TRIAL CONTINUES – The sex-trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs continued into its second week, first with more bombshell testimony from star prosecution witness Cassie Ventura — about Kid Cudi, a $20 million settlement and more vivid allegations of abuse. The singer was then cross-examined by defense attorneys, who showed jurors huge numbers of her emails and text messages — some loving, others sexually graphic — in an effort to prove she was a willing participant in the so-called “freak-off” sex shows at the center of the case. Friday (May 16) and Monday (May 19) were dominated by testimony from Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard, who said she saw Diddy repeatedly attack Ventura, including once with a frying pan and another time at a restaurant with Usher and other celebs present. The trial is expected to run until early July.
POSTY CUSTODY FIGHT – Post Malone legally opposed efforts by his ex, Hee Sung “Jamie” Park, to move their two-year-old daughter to California, arguing that the child has lived in Utah most of her life and should remain a resident there. The filing came in response to a custody petition filed by Park last month, seeking sole physical custody of the girl following their split in November.
COVID COLLUSION? The Justice Department is conducting a criminal antitrust investigation into whether Live Nation and AEG illegally colluded in their concert refund policies at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The probe was first reported by Bloomberg and later confirmed by Live Nation, which strongly denied any wrongdoing: “It is not illegal for artist agents, promoters and ticketing companies to work together to solve the unprecedented challenges of a global pandemic,” said Dan Wall, the company’s regulatory chief.
“INFLAMMATORY ACCUSATIONS” – Days after sending subpoenas to Taylor Swift and her lawyers, Justin Baldoni’s attorneys made a shocking claim that Blake Lively asked Swift to delete text messages and used “extortionate threats” to try to get a statement of support from the pop superstar. Those allegations, credited to an anonymous source and denied by Lively’s lawyers as “categorically false,” were later thrown out of court by a federal judge, who called them a “misuse of the court’s docket” by Baldoni’s attorneys: “The sole purpose of the letter is to promote public scandal by advancing inflammatory accusations,” the judge wrote.
DRAKE CASE IS “DANGEROUS”? A group of legal scholars warned a federal judge that Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” was “dangerous” because it would have a “chilling effect” on hip-hop and encourage prosecutors to use rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases. The professors, hailing from UC Irvine, said that diss tracks are a form of creative expression, not a “series of news reports” — and that Drake’s case threatens to “deny rap the status of art and instead to flatten lyrics into literal confessions.”
TERMINATION LITIGATION – Salt-N-Pepa sued Universal Music Group to win back control of their masters, claiming in a new lawsuit that the music giant has stonewalled their use of copyright’s so-called termination rights. Rather than accepting the move, the case claims UMG has instead “punished” the legendary hip-hop duo by removing some of its music from streaming and holding its music “hostage.”
DURK LYRICS BATTLE – Federal prosecutors fired back at Lil Durk’s “false narrative” that they’re unfairly using his lyrics against him, arguing that he was indicted because of a “brazen murder plot” and not because of his music. Weeks after the feds removed all musical references from the case, they argued they still had more than enough to charge him for murder-for-hire: “Defendant was charged for his murderous conduct, not his lyrics.”
SMOKEY POLICE REPORT – Attorneys for the housekeepers suing Smokey Robinson for sexual assault confirmed that they had filed a police report against the 85-year-old Motown legend, leading the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to open a criminal investigation. The singer’s attorneys said such a probe was automatically required after the filing of a report, and said they “welcome that investigation”: “We feel confident that a determination will be made that Mr. Robinson did nothing wrong.”
LIL NAS X CASE TOSSED – A federal appeals court dismissed an unusual lawsuit accusing Lil Nas X of copying Instagram posts by a freelance artist and model named Rodney Woodland, who claimed the rapper stole his distinctive semi-nude poses and used them in his own IG posts. The Ninth Circuit ruled that the disputed images “share few similarities” and Lil Nas likely never saw them anyway.
SHEERAN AT SCOTUS – Ed Sheeran urged the U.S. Supreme Court to finally end one of the long-running lawsuits claiming his “Thinking Out Loud” infringed Marvin Gaye‘s “Let’s Get It On.” The star’s lawyers said the case, filed by a company that owns a partial stake in Gaye’s 1973 song, was rightfully dismissed by a lower appeals court in November, which ruled that the two tracks share only basic “musical building blocks.”
TUPAC/BIGGIE COPYRIGHT CASE – A pair of photographers who snapped photos of the late legendary rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. teamed up to sue Univision for copyright infringement, accusing the broadcaster of using the images without permission in a web article about “unsolved” murders.
BANKRUPT STREAMER – Free music streaming service AccuRadio filed for bankruptcy, citing $10 million in debts to SoundExchange for artist royalties. The company, which describes itself as “the only online music streaming service curated by human beings, not algorithms,” said it had been unable to reach a settlement to resolve a lawsuit filed by SoundExchange over those debts.
THE BIG STORY: A little under 18 months after sexual abuse allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs were first made public – and 8 months after he was indicted over them – the once-powerful rap mogul headed to trial this week on felony charges that could put him behind bars for life.
When things got underway in the courtroom Monday, I was sitting just rows behind the now-gray-haired superstar as prosecutors accused him of years of criminal conduct – centered on claims that he coerced longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura and other women to take part in drug-fueled, marathon sex sessions with male escorts called “freak offs.”
The start the trial, which is expected to run for eight weeks, was something of a circus. News crews filled the plaza outside the courthouse in Lower Manhattan as a line of spectators wrapped around the block – so many that they eventually filled the entire large courtroom and two overflow rooms. Professional “line sitters” were charging $350 for a spot closer to the door; one person waiting in line, there at the crack of dawn, told me that he didn’t want to miss the “trial of the century.”
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To catch up after the first two days of the trial, go check all of Billboard’s coverage:
–On day one, both sides made their opening statements to the jury. Prosecutors said Combs had used his power for decades to “feed his every desire” — and they almost immediately played an infamous video of him assaulting Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, said the women had consensually partaken in Diddy’s “swinger lifestyle” and that the star cannot be convicted merely based on weird sex, a “toxic relationship,” or even domestic violence: “We take full responsibility that there was domestic violence. Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.”
–On day two, Ventura took the stand. The star witness in the prosecution’s case, Cassie told jurors that participating in “freak off” sex performances “became a job” for her and left her feeling “humiliated.” But she said she felt she had no choice — at times because she was in love with Combs and wanted to please him, but also, later, because she feared blackmail, physical violence or other blowback: “He was a scary person. He would be violent.”
If you need a general catch-up on the Diddy case before the trial goes any further, go read our explainer on everything you need to know – or our deep-dive analysis in which the prosecutors from R. Kelly’s highly-similar case explain how this one might go. You can also read about the many, many lawyers involved in the Diddy debacle.
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.
Other top stories this week…
TAYLOR GETS SUBPOENAED – Taylor Swift was hit with a subpoena formally dragging her into the legal drama between her friend Blake Lively and Lively’s It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni. The subpoena, filed by Baldoni’s lawyers, is certain to be opposed by Swift’s lawyers after her reps blasted the filing: “This document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case.”
HER LAWYERS, TOO – Speaking of Taylor’s lawyers: Her longtime outside law firm, Venable, was also hit with a subpoena from Baldoni’s attorney. The filing specifically name-drops Douglas Baldridge, a Venable partner who’s worked with Swift since 2013 and recently returned to the firm after a stint as her general counsel. In legal filings this week, the firm formally opposed a filing that it described as a “fishing expedition” by Baldoni and his lawyers: “Venable had nothing to do with the film at issue or any of the claims or defenses asserted in the underlying lawsuit.”
LIL DURK DENIED BAIL – Days after federal prosecutors dropped Lil Durk’s rap lyrics from his murder-for-hire case, his lawyers argued that the new “watered-down” charges dramatically weakened the case against him and supported his push to be released from jail ahead of trial. But a federal judge then refused to release him, citing a report that Durk has been using other inmates’ jailhouse phone calls, thereby showing a “disrespect for the rules.”
HALLE RESTRAINING ORDER – A Los Angeles judge granted a restraining order to Halle Bailey against DDG, her ex-boyfriend and the father of her 1-year-old son, after she claimed that he had attacked her multiple times. In legal filings seeking the order, Bailey alleged that in one incident, her ex (Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr.) pulled her hair, slammed her face on the steering wheel and chipped her tooth.
DRAKE v. UMG UPDATE – Weeks after Drake updated his libel lawsuit against UMG to add gripes about Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance of “Not Like Us,” the music giant again asked a judge to dismiss the entire case. In doing so, UMG’s lawyers said the new claims about the halftime show are what the case is really about: “Drake’s attack on the commercial and creative success of the rap artist who defeated him, rather than the content of Lamar’s lyrics.”
SMOKEY ROBINSON ALLEGATIONS – The legendary Motown singer and his wife were hit with an explosive new lawsuit, seeking $50 million in damages over claims that he repeatedly raped four housekeepers over nearly two decades. Robinson’s lawyers strenuously denied the claims, calling them “vile, false allegations” and “an ugly method of trying to extract money from an 85-year-old American icon.”
BAD BUNNY COPYRIGHT CASE – The reggaeton superstar was sued for infringement over allegations that a track from his chart-topping Un Verano Sin Ti (“Enséñame a Bailar”) featured an unlicensed sample from a song called “Empty My Pocket” by a Nigerian artist named Dera. The lawsuit claims the issue was raised with Bunny’s reps, but that they’ve “turned a blind eye” and “stonewalled” efforts to properly clear the sample.
ANOTHER SAMPLE DISPUTE – British singer-songwriter Bakar and his viral track “Hell N Back” – featured in millions of TikTok videos – were hit with a messy new lawsuit over the song’s prominent use of a sample from Robert Parker’s 1967 R&B track “I Caught You In A Lie.” The case claims Bakar and Sony Music cleared the sample, but did so with the wrong rightsholders who have been making “false claim of ownership” to Parker’s song.
DATA BREACH AT iHEART – iHeartMedia was hit with a proposed class action from subscribers after publicly disclosing that several of its radio stations were hacked months ago, exposing Social Security numbers, financial information and other personal details. The company says it “immediately implemented our response protocols” to contain the hack, but attorneys for the subscribers say iHeart waited four months to tell subscribers about it.
LIVE NATION AT SCOTUS – Live Nation asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling last year that said the concert giant couldn’t enforce “opaque and unfair” arbitration agreements against ticketbuyers. That ruling – a scathing critique of Live Nation’s approach – showed improper “judicial hostility,” Live Nation warned the justices, and will create “massive uncertainty” over how such clauses can be used and enforced.
(DIDN’T) GET THEM TO THE GREEK – The Grammy-winning band The Kingston Trio sued a Los Angeles music attorney for fraud, claiming that he lied about having an “inside track” to book the folk group at the Greek Theatre last summer. The group says the lawyer, David A. Helfant, charged them high fees but didn’t actually have any secret mojo to get them booked at the legendary venue. Helfant denied the allegations, saying they were “completely without merit.”
FLORIDA DRAG LAW ICED – A federal appeals court has upheld an injunction blocking the state of Florida from enforcing a law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis that would restrict drag shows in the state, ruling that the statute likely violates the First Amendment’s protection of free speech: “The act wields a shotgun when the First Amendment allows a scalpel at most,” the court wrote.
WEEZER WIFE CHARGED – Author Jillian Lauren, the wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shriner, was officially charged with two felony counts following a bizarre shootout with police at her Los Angeles home last month. The charges are serious (discharge of a firearm with gross negligence and assault with a semiautomatic firearm) but less than she initially faced when booked on suspicion of attempted murder following the April 8 altercation.
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: Prosecutors delete Lil Durk’s lyrics from his murder-for-hire case, jury selection begins in Diddy’s sex-trafficking trial, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page is sued over a decades-old credits dispute and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Rap On Trial — Or Not?
When federal prosecutors indicted Lil Durk on murder-for-hire charges last year, they quoted from one of his songs, claiming the lyrics were a direct reference to the alleged shooting and evidence of his guilt.
That was a controversial choice. The use of rap music as evidence in criminal cases has drawn pushback in recent years, as critics argue it threatens free speech and can sway juries by tapping into racial biases. Some states have moved to restrict the practice, but many have not — and there are no such rules in federal prosecutions.
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In Durk’s case, his lawyers strongly objected to the use of his music, arguing the song in question was written and recorded months before the shooting even took place. They called the lyric allegations “false evidence” that had been unfairly used to indict him and to deny him pre-trial release. In a public statement, Durk’s family said he had been the latest rapper to be “criminalized for their creativity.”
Prosecutors initially defended the move, arguing that Durk had “repeatedly used his pulpit as a voice of violence.” But in an updated version of the indictment released last week, they backed down — removing all reference to his lyrics and instead focusing on other allegations tying him to the shooting.
The case against Durk will continue — in a separate filing, the feds stressed that the new indictment still contains “significant allegations that show defendant’s alleged role in the execution-style murder” — but it will do so without his lyrics.
Other top stories this week…
DIDDY TRIAL, EXPLAINED – Jury selection is officially underway in the sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, ahead of opening statements next week. To get you up to speed before the trial gets underway, I put together an exhaustive explainer on everything you need to know about the Diddy trial — from the exact charges he’s facing, to key players in the courtroom, to the Cassie Ventura tape and much more.
AIN’T OVER YET – A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit claiming Sam Smith and Normani stole key elements of their 2019 hit “Dancing With a Stranger” from an earlier track, ruling that a judge prematurely dismissed the case and should have sent it to a jury. That’s a worrying ruling for any artist hit with a song-theft lawsuit; if such disputes must be litigated all the way to trial to be decided, they become dramatically more expensive.
WHOLE LOTTA LITIGATION – Led Zeppelin‘s Jimmy Page was hit with a new lawsuit over the credits to “Dazed and Confused,” reviving a decades-old dispute over the iconic track. Jake Holmes has claimed for years that he actually wrote the song, and he reached a legal settlement with Page back in 2012 to resolve those allegations. But in the new case, Holmes says Page is effectively ignoring the settlement and has released archival recordings that infringe Holmes’ copyrights.
SCENT SETTLEMENT – Revlon and Elizabeth Arden have fully settled a corporate espionage lawsuit, filed last year, that claimed several former employees “sabotaged” the companies’ decades-old fragrance partnership with Britney Spears and took the business to an upstart rival called Give Back Beauty. The settlements clear the way for Give Back Beauty to formally take over Britney’s lucrative perfume brand, which reportedly earns tens of millions per year.
JAY V. BUZBEE GOES ON – Jay-Z filed an unusual new allegation in his legal war with attorney Tony Buzbee, accusing the lawyer of ordering employees at his law firm to edit Wikipedia pages in an effort to damage the rapper’s reputation. The new claim was the latest salvo in a bitter fight that started when Buzbee filed a shocking lawsuit accusing Jay-Z of raping an unnamed girl decades ago.
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: Mariah Carey wants payback after winning a lawsuit over “All I Want for Christmas is You”; Diddy’s trial judge says jurors can see an infamous surveillance video; 50 Cent sues to stop the release of a movie he stars in; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Mariah’s Christmas Revenge
To paraphrase a legendary line from HBO’s The Wire: “If you come at the queen, you best not miss.”
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A month after the Queen of Christmas defeated a copyright lawsuit over her holiday classic “All I Want for Christmas is You,” Mariah Carey and other defendants in the case are now seeking legal revenge – demanding that the songwriter who filed the action repay the legal bills they spent defending it.
Vince Vance claimed that “All I Want” ripped off his own earlier song of the same name, but a federal judge tossed the case out last month, citing experts who said the songs shared mostly just “commonplace Christmas song clichés.” The judge even said that some of Vance’s filings were so “frivolous” that he’d need to reimburse Carey and others the money the spent beating them.
In a motion earlier this month, Carey and others argued that Vance and his lawyers must hand over a whopping $180,000 to pay for those baseless filings. They said they had been “perfectly justified” in paying high rates to teams of elite lawyers because Vance had been seeking drastic remedies, including $20 million in damages and the “destruction of all copies” of the song.
Vance’s attorneys responded last week, arguing that Carey’s demand was “simply not reasonable” and that his lawsuit, while unsuccessful, had been a legitimate use of the court system. Saying the award should not exceed $70,000 at the very most, they warned that the full fine could bankrupt an “elderly man” who does not have “vast resources.”
“The plaintiff is elder and living off his music catalog and some touring,” the songwriter’s attorneys wrote. “One artist should not push another artist to the brink of a financial collapse.”
Will the judge aim to deter future bad copyright cases by punishing Vance? Or be swayed by his pleas for mercy? Stay tuned at Billboard in the months ahead to find out.
Other top stories this week…
DIDDY TRIAL LOOMS – With jury selection set to begin next week, a federal judge issued a key pre-trial ruling that an infamous 2016 surveillance video of Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel can be played for jurors at his sex trafficking trial. Diddy’s attorneys had argued the clip has been deceptively edited and would “unfairly confuse and mislead the jury”; prosecutors blasted that argument as a “desperate” attempt by Combs to avoid “crushing” evidence of his crimes.
JAY-Z LIBEL SUIT – The star’s unnamed rape accuser and her attorney Tony Buzbee asked a federal judge to dismiss the rapper’s defamation lawsuit against them, arguing they cannot be sued over claims they made as part of a court case. They cited the “fair report privilege” – a legal doctrine that largely immunizes legal proceedings from libel liability. And they said that a headline-grabbing NBC News interview, in which she echoed her claims about Jay-Z, was protected under the same legal logic.
MOVIE BATTLE – 50 Cent filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking the release of an upcoming horror movie called SkillHouse in which he plays the starring role, claiming he never signed a final agreement and had not been paid. The rapper (Curtis Jackson) says he filmed his scenes because he trusted that a deal would eventually be reached, but it never was: “Nevertheless, defendants have billed Jackson as the star and producer of the film [and] have shamelessly and deceptively marketed the film as a ’50 Cent Movie’ and ‘produced by 50 Cent,’ when it is nothing of the sort.”
SHADY SETTLEMENT – Eminem’s publisher reached a settlement to end a copyright lawsuit it filed against a Ford dealership near his hometown of Detroit – a case that claimed the company used the rapper’s “Lose Yourself” in TikTok videos that warned viewers they would “only get one shot” to buy a special edition truck. Eminem doesn’t own Eight Mile Style and was not involved in the lawsuit.
COOKIE INFRINGEMENT – Warner Music Group filed a copyright lawsuit against cookie chain Crumbl, claiming the Utah-based company used more than 159 songs by artists such as Lizzo, Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande and Beyoncé in TikTok and Instagram videos without permission. The case against Crumbl is the latest in a rash of lawsuits accusing commercial brands of using easily-available music in social media ads without the necessary synch licenses – cases that have targeted Marriott, NBA teams, Chili’s, and the University of Southern California.
