The Legal Beat
The Legal Beat: Megan Thee Stallion’s Deposition Dispute – Plus Journey, Flo Rida & More
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings, and all the fun stuff in between. This week: A judge says Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez must sit for a deposition in Megan Thee Stallion’s war with her record company, a member of Journey sues his longtime bandmate over allegations of lavish spending, Flo Rida wins an $82 million verdict against a beverage company, and much more. THE BIG STORY: To Depose Or Not To Depose When should a top executive be hauled into a deposition to answer questions in a lawsuit? It’s a difficult question. Make it too hard and you could insulate powerful people from the legal process; make it too easy and attorneys could use it as a form of gamesmanship in case...
The Legal Beat: Taylor Swift Ends ‘Shake It Off’ Battle – Plus Megan Thee Stallion, Nick Carter & More
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: Taylor Swift ends a long-running copyright case over the lyrics to “Shake It Off,” Tory Lanez heads to trial over accusations that he shot Megan Thee Stallion, Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter is accused of sexually assault, and much more. THE BIG STORY: Taylor Swift’s Accusers Drop “Shake It Off” Case It was the next big music copyright case – until it wasn’t. After five long years of litigation, and with just a month to go until a scheduled trial, attorneys for Taylor Swift reached an agreement Monday with songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler to end their copyright infringement lawsuit cl...
The Legal Beat: Cardi B’s Bizarre Trial – Plus Gunna, Ed Sheeran & More
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly column 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: Cardi B goes to trial in a weird case over a bawdy album cover, Gunna is again refused bond in Atlanta, Ed Sheeran warns that a copyright ruling might “strangle” future songwriters and much more. THE BIG STORY: Cardi Heads to Trial Over Bawdy Album Cover In one of the weirder cases you’ll ever hear about, Cardi B is headed to a federal courthouse today to defend against claims that the cover of her debut mixtape “humiliated” a man named Kevin Brophy, who alleges he was unwittingly photoshopped into the artwork to make it look like he was performing oral sex on the now-superstar. Yes, you read that r...
The Legal Beat: Miley Sued Over Instagram Post – Plus Taylor Swift, Eminem & More
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: Miley Cyrus becomes the latest celebrity sued over an Instagram image of themselves, Taylor Swift faces a setback in the “Shake It Off” copyright case, Spotify and Kobalt spar over Eminem’s music, and much more. THE BIG STORY: Miley Cyrus Sued For Posting … Herself? Another week, another lawsuit against a music star who posted an Instagram photo of themselves. Three months after Dua Lipa was sued for copyright infringement for allegedly posting a paparazzi photo of herself, the exact same photographer sued Miley Cyrus for allegedly doing the same thing. As with Lipa, Robert Barbera says Cyrus’s ...
The Legal Beat: Why Is Rap Music Still On Trial?
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings, and all the fun stuff in between. This week: A deep dive into how prosecutors are still using rap lyrics to convict the artists who wrote them; a bold new argument centered on “teetotaling” in the Prince estate’s fight against ‘Purple Rain’ wine; a big copyright settlement for Lizzo after years of litigation over her smash hit ‘Truth Hurts,’ and more. THE BIG STORY: Why Are Rap Lyrics Still Cited In Court? “It made absolutely no sense,” Ezra Rosenberg told me, speaking about the 2008 murder conviction of a New Jersey man named Vonte Skinner. Rosenberg, an attorney who worked with the ACLU on Skinner’s case, was specifically talking about t...
