Greg Nori and Deryck Whibley Sue Each Other

Greg Nori and Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley are suing each other.

Court documents reveal the Treble Charger frontman is seeking damages from Whibley for libel, in addition to “breach of confidence, intrusion upon seclusion, wrongful disclosure of private facts, and placing the plaintiff in a false light.”
Whibley has countered with his own notice of action against Nori, claiming $3 million in damages for “defamation and placing the plaintiff in a false light,” after the prominent Sault musician publicly accused him of being a liar once the allegations of sex abuse against Nori surfaced.

All Time Low Drop Libel Lawsuit; Say Probe Found “Smear Campaign”

Jason Tate 2 months ago

Rolling Stone have published an update on the All Time Low legal case. It’s behind a paywall, but some of the reporting has been shared:

According to a new statement from the band’s lawyer, a lengthy probe involving subpoenas and court orders determined that Doe 2 was actually multiple people who “spun an elaborate, fabricated story posing as a fan who incredibly and falsely claimed to have traveled with the band for more than 10 years.”
“There is no such person and no such incidents occurred. Rather, an investigation revealed that Doe 2 was an orchestrated smear campaign by multiple individuals posing as a fake fan. The investigations identified individuals behind the anonymous post who went to great lengths to hide their identities,” lawyer Michael B. Garfinkel of Venable LLP said Friday in the statement to Rolling Stone. “All Time Low has chosen to handle the matter privately and protect the identities of those behind Doe 2, instead of pursuing further litigation at this time.”

StubHub Sued for Inflating Ticket Prices

Jason Tate 6 months ago

ABC News:

The attorney general for Washington, D.C., sued StubHub on Wednesday, accusing the ticket resale platform of advertising deceptively low prices and then ramping up prices with extra fees.
The practice known as “drip pricing” violates consumer protection laws in the nation’s capital, Attorney General Brian Schwalb said.
“StubHub intentionally hides the true price to boost profits at its customers’ expense,” he said in a statement.
The company said it is disappointed to be targeted, maintaining its practices are consistent with the law and competing companies as well as broader industry norms. “We strongly support federal and state solutions that enhance existing laws to empower consumers, such as requiring all-in pricing uniformly across platforms,” the company said in a statement.

The 1975 Sued by Malaysian Festival

Jason Tate 6 months ago

Variety:

The organizer of Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival has filed a lawsuit against the 1975 and all its members individually following frontman Matty Healy’s protest against the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws during the event last July. The festival is seeking £1.9 million ($2.4 million) after the band’s antics resulted in the festival being shut down.
In court documents filed by festival organizers Future Sound Asia in the U.K. High Court, they claim that the 1975 and their management team were aware of the numerous prohibitions the band had to abide by in order to perform.

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Major Labels Sue Verizon Over Music Piracy

Jason Tate Jul 16, 2024

Abby Jones, writing at Stereogum:

Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group have filed a joint lawsuit against Verizon, alleging the internet service provider of facilitating “massive copyright infringement committed by tens of thousands of its subscribers.”
The suit, filed in filed in Manhattan July 12, claims that Verizon has failed to protect copyrighted material by knowingly providing high-speed internet to a large community of online pirates.

Explaining the RIAA’s Lawsuit Against AI Music Startups

Jason Tate Jul 1, 2024

Devin Coldewey, writing for TechCrunch:

Like many AI companies, music generation startups Udio and Suno appear to have relied on unauthorized scrapes of copyrighted works in order to train their models. This is by their own and investors’ admission, as well as according to new lawsuits filed against them by music companies. If these suits go before a jury, the trial could be both a damaging exposé and a highly useful precedent for similarly sticky-fingered AI companies facing certain legal peril.
The lawsuits, filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), put us all in the uncomfortable position of rooting for the RIAA, which for decades has been the bogeyman of digital media. I myself have received nastygrams from them! The case is simply that clear.

DOJ to Sue Live Nation/Ticketmaster

Jason Tate May 23, 2024

The New York Times:

The Justice Department and a group of states plan to sue Live Nation Entertainment, the concert giant that owns Ticketmaster, as soon as Thursday, accusing it of illegally maintaining a monopoly in the live entertainment industry, said three people familiar with the matter.
The government plans to argue in a lawsuit that Live Nation shored up its power through Ticketmaster’s exclusive ticketing contracts with concert venues, as well as the company’s dominance over concert tours and other businesses like venue management, said two of the people, who declined to be named because the lawsuit was still private. That helped the company maintain a monopoly, raising prices and fees for consumers, limiting innovation in the ticket industry and hurting competition, the people said.

Tennessee Signs ELVIS Act

Jason Tate Mar 25, 2024

Tennessee has unveiled the ELVIS act, aiming to protect the voices of artists as a protected personal right:

Present law provides that every individual has a property right in the use of that person’s name, photograph, or likeness in any medium in any manner. This bill adds to the present law by providing that an individual also has a property right in the use of that individual’s voice. […]
This bill adds to the present law by providing that any person who knowingly uses or infringes upon the use of an individual’s voice, in any manner directed to any person other than such individual, for purposes of advertising products, merchandise, goods, or services, or for purposes of fundraising, solicitation of donations, purchases of products, merchandise, goods, or services, without such individual’s prior consent, or, in the case of a minor, the prior consent of such minor’s parent or legal guardian, or in the case of a deceased individual, the consent of the executor or administrator, heirs, or devisees of such deceased individual, is also liable to a civil action.

The goal is to protect musicians against unauthorized AI usage.

Rising Costs to Tour the United States

Jason Tate Mar 4, 2024

Anthony Pawelski, writing at AILA:

International artists face another barrier: a U.S. work visa. The O or P visa are commonly used for musicians. They are each limited to specific purposes and not a substitute for a green card. An artist may even have multiple O visas depending on their overall activities in the United States. Both O and P visas can be labor intensive depending on the musical genre, profile of band/artist, nature of the arrangement, and timeline. Like any U.S. visa, there are associated filing fees and attorney fees but, unlike the H-1B work visa, the O or P do not mandate the sponsor/employer pay all legal or government filing fees.
And now, touring is getting even more expensive. On April 1, 2024, the new fee schedule from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will take effect. Applications for most work visas and employment-based green cards will now have higher filing fees and require a new mandatory asylum fee ranging from $300 to $600 (non-profits are exempt). This new fee will be used to fund part of the costs of administering our nation’s asylum program and will be paid each and every time an O or P visa is filed (side note that it is possible that the final fee rule will be challenged in court and all or part of the new fee rule may be enjoined).

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Merch Company SCP Owes Millions

Jason Tate Jan 2, 2024

Chris Eggertsen, writing for Billboard:

Illinois-based merch company SCP owes more than $4 million to over 300 clients including Mitski and Brent Faiyaz after abruptly shutting down operations last week, according to internal documents obtained by Billboard. And with plans to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy on Friday, it’s unlikely those clients will ever recover all the money they’re owed.
Some of SCP’s other clients included Father John Misty, Chappell Roan, T-Pain, Finneas, Brand New and Carly Rae Jepsen; record labels Loma Vista Recordings and Triple Crown Records; Pharrell Williams‘ Something in the Water music festival; and online content creators such as the Dungeons & Daddies podcast and YouTubers Team Edge.

Jimmy Irvine Accused of Sexual Misconduct

Jason Tate Nov 26, 2023

Rolling Stone:

A woman is filing a lawsuit against music executive Jimmy Iovine, alleging the Interscope Records co-founder sexually abused her and forcibly touched her, according to court documents. Iovine tells Rolling Stone he’s “shocked and baffled” by the claim.
A Jane Doe plaintiff filed a summons and notice on Wednesday in New York and alleges Iovine, 70, engaged in “multiple instances of sexual abuse and forcible touching of her, including a specific incident of sexual misconduct” that occurred in New York City in August 2007. The legal filing contained little additional information regarding the woman’s specific claims, but a lawsuit is expected by the end of the year. The woman also alleges that she faced sexual harassment and retaliation, and is seeking an unspecified amount of damages. Doe’s attorney, Douglas Wigdor, declined to comment further on the case.

Major Labels Trying to Stop Artists from Re-Recording Songs

Jason Tate Nov 1, 2023

Steve Knopper, writing for Billboard:

The major labels, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, have recently overhauled contracts for new signees, according to top music attorneys, some demanding artists wait an unprecedented 10, 15 or even 30 years to re-record releases after departing their record companies. “The first time I saw it, I tried to get rid of it entirely,” says Josh Karp, a veteran attorney, who has viewed the new restrictions in UMG contracts. “I was just like, ‘What is this? This is strange. Why would we agree to further restrictions than we’ve agreed to in the past with the same label?’”

And:

Adds Dina LaPolt, a music attorney with a long history of grappling with labels over contracts: “Now, because of all this Taylor Swift stuff, we have an even new negotiation. It’s awful. We’re seeing a lot of ‘perpetuity.’ When we were negotiating deals with lawyers, before we would get the proposal, we’d get the phone call from the head of business affairs. We literally would say, ‘If you send that to me, it will be on Twitter in 10 minutes.’ It never showed up.”

Ian Watkins Stabbed in Prison

Jason Tate Aug 7, 2023

Ian Watkins was stabbed multiple times in prison over the weekend:

Former Lostprophets singer and convicted pedophile Ian Watkins sustained multiple stab wounds after being held hostage by other inmates in the British prison where he is currently serving a 29-year sentence on sex offenses involving young children.
Following the incident, Watkins was hospitalized with injuries the Sky News reported were “not life-threatening.” According to their report, Watkins was taken hostage by three fellow prisoners Saturday morning, leading to a six-hour standoff with corrections officers during which Watkins was repeatedly stabbed and beaten by the inmates.

The National Music Publishers Association Sues Twitter

Jason Tate Jun 15, 2023

The Verge:

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) is suing Twitter on behalf of 17 music publishers representing the biggest artists in the business. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Tennessee, claims the company “fuels its business with countless infringing copies of musical compositions, violating Publishers’ and others’ exclusive rights under copyright law.”
It also has a list of 1,700 or so songs (included below) that the publishers say have been included in multiple copyright notices to Twitter without the company doing anything about it, asking the court to fine Twitter up to $150,000 for each violation.

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Taylor Swift Has “Shake It Off” Lawsuit Dismissed

Jason Tate Dec 13, 2022

The “Shake It Off” copyright infringement lawsuit has been dismissed.

A copyright infringement lawsuit against Taylor Swift has been dismissed with prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs cannot refile the same complaint in the same court. The suit had been filed in a California federal court in 2017 by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, who claimed that Swift who took lyrics from 3LW’s “Playas Gon’ Play” for her 1989 single “Shake It Off.”