TMZ is reporting that The Used have been granted a restraining order against former guitarist Justin Shekoski:
The Used were granted the protection … which requires Shekoski to stay 100 yards away from all members of the group, and any place they work. That includes any venues where the group’s performing.
Tyler Hayden, writing for the Santa Barbra Independent:
Michael Davenport, a Santa Barbara resident and former bassist for the punk rock band The Ataris, was indicted last month on federal conspiracy and fraud charges for allegedly operating a nationwide telemarketing real estate scam that cheated approximately 100,000 people out of $27 million between 2009 and 2016.
Radiohead’s publishers have sent a statement to Pitchfork regarding Lana Del Rey’s comments over the weekend:
As Radiohead’s music publisher, it’s true that we’ve been in discussions since August of last year with Lana Del Rey’s representatives. It’s clear that the verses of “Get Free” use musical elements found in the verses of “Creep” and we’ve requested that this be acknowledged in favour of all writers of “Creep.” To set the record straight, no lawsuit has been issued and Radiohead have not said they “will only accept 100%” of the publishing of “Get Free.”
Lana Del Rey has confirmed on Twitter that Radiohead are suing her over “Get Free” apparently sounding too much like “Creep:”
It’s true about the lawsuit. Although I know my song wasn’t inspired by Creep, Radiohead feel it was and want 100% of the publishing – I offered up to 40 over the last few months but they will only accept 100. Their lawyers have been relentless, so we will deal with it in court.
Jon Blistein, writing for Rolling Stone:
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the FBI’s decision to list the Juggalos as a gang was not a “final agency” action, meaning it was not legally binding and could not be challenged in court.
The FBI classified the Juggalos as a gang in their 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment. The report referred to them as “a loosely-organized hybrid gang” that engages in “sporadic, disorganized, individualistic” crime such as, “simple assault, personal drug use and possession, petty theft and vandalism.”
Aimee Green, writing for The Oregonian:
A 41-year-old Portland city employee struck by the SUV of local rock star Isaac Brock — who said he fell asleep at the wheel — filed an $865,000 lawsuit Wednesday against the Modest Mouse lead singer.
The lawsuit, filed by city employee Cassidy Kane, claims Brock — the frontman of the indie rock band — was “impaired” when he slammed his 2004 Land Rover into the back of Kane’s City of Portland pickup truck at 9:20 a.m. on Aug. 3, 2016.
The ACLU is defending a blogger from a defamation claim by Taylor Swift. From today’s press release:
On Sep. 5, PopFront editor Meghan Herning wrote a post titled “Swiftly to the alt-right: Taylor subtly gets the lower case kkk in formation.” The post is a mix of political speech and critical commentary, and discusses the resurgence of white supremacy and the fact that some white supremacists have embraced Swift. It also provides a critical interpretation of some of Swift’s music, lyrics, and videos. The post ends by calling on Swift to personally denounce white supremacy, saying “silence in the face of injustice means support for the oppressor.”
On Oct. 25, Herning received an intimidating letter from Swift and her attorney labeling the blog post as defamatory and demanding that she issue a retraction, remove the story from all media sources, and cease and desist. The letter threatened a lawsuit.
Seems like a lot of money to pay lawyers instead of just saying “white supremacy is really fucking bad.”
Melissa Daniels, writing for Law360:
Grammy Award-winning musician Frank Ocean beat a $14.5 million libel suit from his estranged father Tuesday, when a California federal judge ruled at a daylong bench trial that the dad hadn’t shown that his son defamed him with a 2016 Tumblr post that recounted him calling a transgender waitress an anti-gay slur.
U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson said that while the court doesn’t have to rule whether the statement was truthful, Calvin Cooksey still had failed to meet necessary elements to make his defamation claim.
Althea Legaspi, writing for Rolling Stone:
In the lawsuit, Flavor Flav (real name William J. Drayton) claims that he and Chuck D (real name Carlton Ridenhour) had a long-established agreement that profits from their music, merchandise and concerts would be split between them. Despite that alleged arrangement, Flavor Flav claims that Public Enemy’s business management firm Eastlink has not been sending the earnings he is owed, which have “diminished to almost nothing, and Drayton has been refused accountings, even on the items bearing his likeness,” according to the lawsuit.
Eriq Gardner, writing for The Hollywood Reporter:
What’s a record label actually good for? That is a question implied in a lawsuit between Warner Bros. Records and Avenged Sevenfold, a heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, that is scheduled to go to trial this year and has the potential to upend the music industry.
The dispute dates back to 2015, when the act notified its label that it was terminating the contract it signed in 2004, citing the “seven-year rule,” which bars personal service contracts lasting longer than seven years. The law has its roots in a pro-labor statute put on the books after the Civil War to prevent long-term contracts from becoming the means for involuntary servitude. The modern version of the rule was famously tested in entertainment in 1944, when Olivia de Havilland used the law to break her contract with Warner Bros after the studio repeatedly suspended her for turning down roles. An appeals court decision helped bring an end to Hollywood’s old studio system.
A law that can be directed against speech found offensive to some portion of the public can be turned against minority and dissenting views to the detriment of all. The First Amendment does not entrust that power to the government’s benevolence. Instead, our reliance must be on the substantial safeguards of free and open discussion in a democratic society.
Internet pop artist Austin Jones was charged in federal court in Chicago on Tuesday with child pornography after allegedly coercing two underage female fans to send him sexually explicit videos. […] A criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday alleged Jones had online conversations with two 14-year-old female fans in which he encouraged them to send him sexually explicit videos of themselves, including dozens of images of them performing graphic sexual acts.
PayPal is taking Pandora to court over their new similar logo:
The digital-payment company says Pandora’s big blue “P,” unveiled in October, damages its business because customers are mistakenly opening the wrong app on their phones.
“I was a little confused when I opened PayPal and Barenaked Ladies started playing,” one PayPal customer tweeted.
The Daily Ridge is reporting that former Get Scared vocalist Joel Faviere was arrested in an undercover child pornography sting:
Detectives received information that someone operating a device located in Faviere’s home was sharing files that contain child pornography. Detectives responded to the home on Buck Run Drive, and during an on-scene preview of his computer equipment they seized, detectives found over 4,500 files containing child pornography, including images of infants and toddlers being sexually abused. Faviere told detectives he has been viewing child pornography for a year and that it “has become an addiction.”
Law 360 is reporting that A Day to Remember has been freed from their Victory Records’ contract and awarded a $4 million verdict.
An Illinois federal jury released Florida-based rock band A Day To Remember from a 2006 recording contract Tuesday, finding that the band had fulfilled the five-album deal and awarding its members $4 million in withheld proceeds from music and merchandise sales.
Following a two-week jury trial and a day and a half of deliberations, an eight-person jury returned a multipage verdict that largely favored the band, also known by the initials ADTR, in a legal dispute against record label Victory Records Inc. that began in 2011.
