AI Music Wars, Roc-A-Fella Auction, Cardi B Divorce, Deepfakes Bill & More Top Music Legal News

This is The Legal Beat, a weekly music law newsletter from Billboard Pro, bringing you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, landmark decisions and all the fun stuff in between.

This week: Music AI companies Suno and Udio hit back at a billion-dollar copyright lawsuit filed by the majors. Damon Dash is facing a legal auction of his one-third stake in Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records. Cardi B is filing for divorce from husband Offset. and many more.

THE BIG STORY: “A Threat to Their Market Share”

The first “answer” to a lawsuit is usually a fairly sparse document. A defendant admits or denies each claim and offers a list of every possible defense they can use, but that's about it. Factual arguments are usually saved for later filings, such as a motion to dismiss the case.

That's what made the responses filed last week by AI music companies Suno and Udio so compelling. Facing massive copyright lawsuits from the music industry, the two companies overcame denials – offering extensive arguments that sought to frame the narrative of a multibillion-dollar legal battle that could take years to resolve.

In doing so, they admitted to using copyrighted songs to train their models and argued that this was clearly a form of legal “fair use”. And they blasted the major companies (Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment) that filed the case, accusing them of abusing copyright law to maintain that power.

“What the major labels really don't want is competition,” Suno wrote in her filing. “When Suno sees musicians, teachers and everyday people using a new tool to create original music, record labels see a threat to their market share.”

Go read our full story on reply submissions, with access to full arguments from both companies.

Other top stories this week…

REASONABLE DOUBT? – Damon Dash's one-third stake in Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records goes up by one judicial auction later this month to help pay off his debts – namely, more than $1 million in legal judgments and another $145,000 in unpaid child support. The minimum bid for the auction is set at $1.2 million, but it's not exactly clear what the buyer would buy — and they shouldn't wait for a normal due diligence process.

JT DECLARES TOLERANCE – Justin Timberlake pleaded not guilty for drunken driving after his arrest in June in the Hamptons, performing virtually while on the European leg of his Forget Tomorrow world tour. During the hearing, the star's lawyer repeated earlier statements that Timberlake (who refused to take a breathalyzer test) was not in fact drunk at the time of his arrest.

CARDI B DIVORCE – Cardi B I filed for divorce from Offset after seven years of marriage, a split that her reps said was “long overdue and amicable.” In her divorce petition, filed in a New Jersey court, the Grammy-winning hip-hop superstar is seeking primary custody of her two children and her unborn baby on the way, as well as child support from Offset. The “WAP” star previously filed for divorce in 2020 in Atlanta, but later dropped the case after the two stars reconciled.

DON'T STOP THE JUDGMENT – The never-ending legal battle between Journey members Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon broke out again, with Cain filing a new lawsuit against Schon alleging that his “excessive” spending and other problems have led to an “impasse” that threatens to cripple the band's touring. If you want an idea of ​​how dysfunctional things have become between Cain and Schon: “It's common for one manager to fire an employee or crew member, and hours or days later, the other manager will rehire the same person.”

NO LINK FOR NEW TUG – Judge Paige Reese Whitaker, the newly installed substitute judge overseeing Young Thug's sprawling Atlanta gang trial, denied the rapper's new request to be released from prison, leaving him locked up pending a verdict sometime next year. Thug has already been in jail for more than two years while the slow-moving case has dragged on, through an unprecedented 10 months of jury selection, a trial marked by delays and interruptions and now weeks of turmoil over a secret meeting between the judge and prosecutor.

Federal AI DEEPFAKES BILL – A bipartisan group of US senators introduced the NO FAKES law, which aims to protect artists and others from deepfakes and fake AI vocals, like last year's Fake Drake song. The bill would for the first time create federal intellectual property protections for the so-called right of publicity, which limits how someone's name, likeness, likeness and voice can be used without consent.

STUBHUM'S LAWSUIT FOR “PARADISES” – StubHub was hit with a lawsuit by the Washington DC attorney general over allegations that the ticket resale platform levies “complicated junk fees” on concertgoers after luring them in with “deceptively low prices.” The case, which echoes Justice Department complaints against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, alleges that D.C. consumers alone have paid $118 million in such fees to StubHub since 2015.

R. KELLY AT SCOTUS – Disgraced R&B singer takes one of his sex-assault convictions to US Supreme Court, urging the judges to overturn his convictions for child pornography and solicitation on statute of limitations grounds. The appeal does not deal with Kelly's other convictions on racketeering charges, which remain pending in a lower court.

KISS KISS, BANG BANG – In 1975 the band's frontman Matty Healy was also beaten $2.4 million lawsuit by organizers of Malaysia's Good Vibes festival – an event that was shut down last summer after Healy gave a speech criticizing the country's anti-LGBTQ laws and then kissed a male bandmate on stage. The incident (which has been criticized by local rights activists as counterproductive) violated the band's contract with the festival, according to the lawsuit.

MODEL SETTLEMENT – French Montana they reached a settlement to end a lawsuit that claims his 2022 song “Blue Chills” includes an unlicensed sample from Skylar Gudasz's 2020 song “Femme Fatale.” The deal will resolve a lawsuit that claimed French's representatives had tentatively agreed to license the clip, but that the rapper released the song without ever doing so.

JUICE WRLD ESTATE SUED – A music producer named Joshua Jaramillo is is suing Juice WRLD's estate over claims he's owed royalties from the late rapper's 2021 hit “Girl of My Dreams.” Jaramillo claims he was promised a 5% ownership stake and an additional 1% producer's rights to the track, which featured BTS' Suga and debuted at No. 29 on the Hot 100.

ANOTHER TIKTOK CASE – Ministry of Justice filed a new lawsuit against TikTok that claims the social media giant violated children's online privacy laws and ran afoul of a previous settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. While serious, the case is likely second on the list for TikTok's legal team, which is also litigating a separate lawsuit challenging legislation that would prevent the company from fully operating in the US.

MR DIVORCE FORM – Billy Ray Cyrus and his wife Firerose (born Johanna Hodges) have reached an agreement to end their contentious divorce case, ending weeks of exaggerated accusations of abuse and wrongdoing on both sides. In a statement, Cyrus said he was “relieved” and called the short-lived marriage a “crazy scam.” A source close to Firerose hit back with a statement saying she had settled for no money and wanted her husband's “smear campaign” to end.

KEHLANI WORSHIP REQUIREMENTS – Kehlani's ex-partner Javaughn Young-White has filed a petition seeking legal and physical custody of their 5-year-old daughter, claiming the singer is involved in a cult. “This cult controls her actions and behavior, even when it comes to raising our daughter,” Young-White's attorneys wrote.