Music industry legal news

Hipgnosis Songs Fund goes legal to indemnify itself in relation to a different Hipgnosis v Hipgnosis legal battle

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Hipgnosis • 2 min read

Hipgnosis Songs Fund goes legal to indemnify itself in relation to a different Hipgnosis v Hipgnosis legal battle

The Hipgnosis Songs Fund has filed legal action against its investment advisor Hipgnosis Song Management in a dispute relating to a lawsuit filed by another Hipgnosis company, the defunct Hipgnosis Music Limited…

Chris Cooke • 19 Feb 2024

Sony Music sues over unpaid sync fees from Whitney Houston biopic

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Sony Music • 2 min read

Sony Music sues over unpaid sync fees from Whitney Houston biopic

The producers of the Whitney Houston biopic 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' have been accused on infringing the copyright in her recordings after failing to pay the fees due on a sync deal negotiated with the late musician’s label, Sony Music…

Chris Cooke • 19 Feb 2024

Anthropic's fair use defence and Claude 'guardrails' are defective, say the music publishers

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Anthropic • 2 min read

Anthropic's fair use defence and Claude 'guardrails' are defective, say the music publishers

The music publishers that sued Anthropic have again demanded a preliminary injunction against the AI company ordering it to stop using and outputting lyrics they control, while also disputing its fair use defence…

Chris Cooke • 16 Feb 2024

Russell Simmons sued for defamation over his response to allegations of sexual assault

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Russell Simmons • 2 min read

Russell Simmons sued for defamation over his response to allegations of sexual assault

Russell Simmons has been sued for defamation over comments he made last year regarding the allegations of sexual assault that have been made against him. Those comments were part “a concerted and malicious campaign” to discredit his accusers, a lawsuit claims…

Chris Cooke • 16 Feb 2024

Music industry welcomes German ruling holding TikTok liable for unlicensed content

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TikTok • 5 min read

Music industry welcomes German ruling holding TikTok liable for unlicensed content

A German court has held TikTok liable for hosting unlicensed content following a lawsuit filed by a Berlin film distributor which relied on changes made to the copyright safe harbour by the 2019 EU Copyright Directive…

Chris Cooke • 15 Feb 2024

Russell Simmons sued over allegations of rape

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Russell Simmons • 2 min read

Russell Simmons sued over allegations of rape

A former employee at Def Jam has filed a lawsuit accusing the label’s founder Russell Simmons of rape. It relates to an incident in the 1990s, with the plaintiff relying on a New York City law that allows the filing of lawsuits that would usually be prohibited by the statute of limitations…

Chris Cooke • 14 Feb 2024

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Pandora • 3 min read

MLC sues Pandora over unpaid royalties

Pandora has been sued by collecting society MLC in a dispute over whether or not the US streaming service needs to pay mechanical royalties on all the revenues associated with its free tier…

Chris Cooke • 13 Feb 2024

Ticketmaster's arbitration dispute now with the Ninth Circuit appeals court

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Ticketmaster • 2 min read

Ticketmaster's arbitration dispute now with the Ninth Circuit appeals court

Ticketmaster has told the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court that a lawsuit filed by ticket-buyers accusing it of anti-competitive conduct should be forced to arbitration - a lower court refused to do so because the Live Nation ticketing company changed its chosen arbitrator…

Chris Cooke • 13 Feb 2024

Ozzy Osbourne hits out at Kanye over ‘unauthorised’ sample saying rapper “has caused untold heartache to many”

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Ozzy Osbourne • 2 min read

Ozzy Osbourne hits out at Kanye over ‘unauthorised’ sample saying rapper “has caused untold heartache to many”

A Black Sabbath sample has been removed from a track on Kanye West's new album after Ozzy Osbourne hit out when a version with the sample was played at a listening party. Osbourne said he'd refused to license the sample to the "antisemite" rapper.…

Chris Cooke • 12 Feb 2024

UK Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch’s decision to block MEGS funding for Kneecap “unlawful” says band as it prepares legal action

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Kneecap • 3 min read

UK Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch’s decision to block MEGS funding for Kneecap “unlawful” says band as it prepares legal action

UK Business Secretary Kemi Badenock is facing both parliamentary questions and legal action after her department stopped Northern Irish rap group Kneecap from receiving MEGS funding because of the politics of their output…

Chris Cooke • 12 Feb 2024

“YouTube isn’t here”, says Yout lawyer in latest from legal battle with RIAA

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Yout • 2 min read

“YouTube isn’t here”, says Yout lawyer in latest from legal battle with RIAA

A lawyer for stream-ripping site Yout argued in court last week that YouTube’s input was required to settle key questions in its ongoing legal battle with the Recording Industry Association Of America…

Chris Cooke • 12 Feb 2024

SeatGeek sued in multi-million class action over ticket price listings in New York

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SeatGeek • 2 min read

SeatGeek sued in multi-million class action over ticket price listings in New York

Following proposals for a US-wide law forcing ticketing platforms to show the full price of every ticket upfront, including booking fees, SeatGeek has been sued in New York for allegedly failing to follow existing laws in that state regarding how ticket prices are displayed…

Chris Cooke • 09 Feb 2024

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