Legal and Management
The Kid LAROI Leaves Scooter Braun, Moves to Adam Leber for Management
LAROI’s track “Stay” with Justin Bieber — another Braun client — is currently the No. 1 song in the country, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for the six weeks since it’s July 9 date release on Columbia Records. Leber launched Rebel in April in conjunction with Live Nation. He had previously been a partner at management conglomerate Maverick, which he co-founded in 2014 alongside other music management heavyweights Clarence Spalding, Larry Rudolph, Guy Oseary, Gee Roberson, Scott Rodger, Cortez Bryant, Ron Laffitte and Caron Veazey. Braun and Leber did not respond to request for comment at time of publishing. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. ...
Bill Making Recording Costs Tax-Deductible Added to Congress Budget Package
The HITS Act, which would allow musicians, technicians and producers to deduct 100% of recording expenses up to $150,000 on their taxes in the year they’re incurred, remains unchanged from its previous versions. It was first introduced in the House on July 31, 2020 (followed by a companion bill in the Senate on Dec. 3, 2020), though it failed to pass as part of the last two pandemic relief packages despite intense lobbying from independent music advocates to have it included. It was reintroduced by its original House and Senate sponsors back in March. Under the current tax code, music creators are required to amortize production expenses for tax purposes over the economic life of a sound recording, a period that usually ranges between three and four years. If passed, the HITS Act wou...
The Weeknd, H.E.R. and Motown’s CEO Honored at First BMAC Music in Action Awards
That mission statement remained front and center throughout the nearly three-hour ceremony/dinner during which emotions ran high. The Weeknd, co-recipient of The Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award for his philanthropic support of various charities and organizations including COVID relief, Black Lives Matter and MusiCares, recalled the first time he met the industry icon. “He pulled up to one of my club gigs in Las Vegas; he’s one of the reasons why I started making music,” said the emotional singer, to whom Jones presented the award via videotape. “He said he’d wait for me to visit with fans first before we talked. He was teaching me the lesion that nothing is more important than people and giving back. This is the best award I’ve ever gotten in my life, I swear. I won’t take this for g...
R. Kelly Says He Won’t Testify at His Sex Trafficking Trial
The short defense case has relied on a handful of former Kelly employees and other associates who agreed to take the stand to try to discredit allegations that he sexually abused women, girls and boys during a 30-year musical career highlighted by the 1996 smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly.” Most of the defense witnesses said they never saw Kelly abuse anyone. One went as far to say Kelly was “chivalrous” to his girlfriends. Another admitted he owed Kelly for his break in music business and wanted to see him beat the case. By contrast, prosecutors have called dozens witnesses since the trial began in federal court in Brooklyn on Aug. 18. They included several female and two male accusers to back up allegations that Kelly used a cadre of managers, bodyguards and assistants to systematically re...
R. Kelly Unlikely to Take Stand In Sex-Trafficking Trial: Lawyer
The prosecution’s closing arguments could begin as early as Wednesday afternoon. Kelly, 54, has repeatedly denied accusations that behind the scenes of a 30-year career highlighted by his 1996 megahit “I Believe I Can Fly,” he was a sexual predator who groomed and exploited his young victims. His lawyers have portrayed the accusers as groupies seeking to take advantage of his fame. On Tuesday, accountant John Holder was among the latest former Kelly associates to testify for the defense that they never saw him torment his alleged accusers. Holder described seeing Kelly carrying around a backpack full of cash — proceeds from concerts — to take the women and girls on shopping sprees. On cross-examination, prosecutors displayed for jurors a piece of evidence suggesting Holder’s contributions ...
T.I. Drops New Song ‘F— Em’ After Sexual Assault Case Is Dismissed
He later says, “On my life, me and my wife run this city/ Can’t snatch these stripes, we don’t care what they talking about, f— them lies.” Ahead of the release, T.I. teased a clip from the new “F— Em” music video. “As promised our official msg dropped at 1pm @worldstar GO SEE IT‼️ S/O @liljon Every storm runs outta rain ‼️,” he wrote. In a statement issued to Billboard by T.I. and Tiny’s attorney, Shawn Holley, regarding the couple’s recent legal outcome, the lawyer said, “Mr. and Mrs. Harris are pleased, but not surprised, by the District Attorney’s decision to dismiss these meritless allegations. We appreciate the DA’s careful review o...
Drake Bell Breaks Silence After Pleading Guilty to Felony Child Endangerment
During his sentencing hearing in July, Cuyahoga County Judge Timothy McCormick stated that he had heard “a lot of serious and disturbing allegations” but added he “can’t lose focus on what was pled to,” The Associated Press reported. “The fact of the matter is, your position and celebrity status let you nurture this relationship,” McCormick said. “You were able to gain access to this child.” In July, Bell was sentenced to two years’ probation on child endangerment charges and 200 hours of community service for his conduct with a young fan, whom he met online and then in person, that spanned years. Authorities previously stated that in October 2018, the victim — who was 19 at the time of Bell’s 2021 sentencing — contacted Toronto police, who forwarded their findings to Cleveland police, whi...
Maurice Fayne of ‘Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta’ Sentenced In Ponzi Scheme
“Fayne planned to use the PPP program as a cover for his long-running Ponzi scheme,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine in a news release Wednesday. “The funds the program supplies serve as a lifeline to many businesses desperately trying to stay afloat during the pandemic, and unfortunately his fraud helped deplete those precious dollars.” Erskine said from March 2013 through May 2020, Fayne ran a multistate Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 20 people who invested in his trucking business. Instead of using investors’ money to operate the business, he used the funds to pay personal debts and expenses and to fund an extravagant lifestyle, Erskine said. During the scheme, Fayne spent more than $5 million at a casino in Oklahoma, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District...
Queens of the Stone Age Singer Josh Homme’s Kids Sought Restraining Orders, Allege Verbal & Physical Abuse
He also claimed that Homme drinks alcohol and drives with them in the car, and smokes “everywhere,” even though Orrin has asthma, “but he calls me a liar and says I don’t.” Other allegations include claims that Homme “demands” that Orrin fetch him tequila, and that he “face palms me with his hand,” “he throws things at me,” “he flicks my ears all the time and he pushes and shoves me,” as well as allegedly hitting Orrin in the head and poking his chest. Orrin also wrote that “my dad calls me a liar [and] a traitor,” that “he calls me fat,” and “my dad screams in my face when I’m sleeping and punches the bed.” Orrin adds that Homme allegedly said he was going to “murd...
Nicki Minaj’s Husband Pleads Guilty for Failing to Register as a Sex Offender
In March 2020, the 43-year-old Petty registered with the California Megan’s Law database, which tracks local sex offenders in California, where he and Minaj currently live with their infant son, and had his charges dropped by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office. But he still faced federal charges from the Department of Justice — which this plea deal addresses. Petty is now scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 24, 2022. The New York State department labels Petty as a level-two sex offender, which deems him of having a moderate risk of a repeat offense, after he was convicted of attempted rape in the first degree in 1994. United States attorney Tracy L. Wilkison and assistant U.S. attorney Sarah E. Gerdes represented the U.S. Attorn...
Afrika Bambaataa Sued for Alleged Sex Abuse & Trafficking
The lawsuit claims that after Doe attended Zulu Nation meetings, Taylor began inviting Doe to his apartment “several times a week” and encouraging him to use a gym on the premises, where Taylor “would comment about Plaintiff’s muscular body and would touch Plaintiff on the shoulders, biceps and torso.” At Taylor’s apartment, Taylor began touching Doe’s “private areas” and encouraging him to masturbate while watching pornographic videos together, the lawsuit alleges, and the “mutual masturbation” later “progressed to sodomy.” The lawsuit claims that Doe is also a sex trafficking victim, as Taylor allegedly transported Doe to other locations and offered Doe “for sex to other adult men” in exchange for m...
StubHub Clears Final Hurdle of Viagogo Merger With Sale of Non-U.S. Assets
The sale ends a period of government-imposed silence between the two firms, which were allowed to communicate while the agreement worked its ways through the U.K. regulator system. “We are finally allowed to collaborate and begin planning the integration between the two companies,” says Jill Krimmel, StubHub’s interim president who said she will stay on as president once the integration is complete. That process couldn’t begin until the sale of StubHub’s international business was completed. It’s unclear how much Digital Fuel Capital paid for the international assets, which include 23 companies and limited liability corporations held by StubHub including its branded marketplaces in the U.K., Germany, Taiwan and parts of Europe through its Luxembourg ...
