Notorious B.I.G. Estate Battle, Drake Witness List, Karol G Copyright Win & More Top Music Law News

THE BIG STORY: As Biggie once said, “Mo Money Mo Problems.” The landmark sale of half of The Notorious B.I.G.’s portfolio to Primary Wave has sparked a messy legal dispute between the estate of the rap icon’s mother, Voletta Wallace, and Biggie’s R&B singer widow, Faith Evans.

Wayne Barrow, a record executive who became executor of Voletta’s estate upon her death this February, filed a Delaware court petition claiming Evans has refused to share profits from the Primary Wave deal — in which the estate sold off a stake in Biggie’s catalog as well as certain name, image and likeness rights for a reported $100 million.

Barrow said that while Evans distributed sale proceeds to herself and Biggie’s children, Voletta’s estate still has not received its cut. The petition seeks to force a turnover of these profits, as well as to remove Evans from her role as sole manager of the LLC that manages Biggie’s assets due to her “continued misconduct and disregard for her obligations.”

This is far from the first time infighting over a deceased artist’s estate has ended up in court. The family members of numerous late musical legends, from Prince to Leonard Cohen to Michael Jackson, have all brought legal actions against those managing their hefty inheritances.

Just last month, Jimmy Buffett’s $275 million estate became mired in a similar legal battle between the singer-songwriter’s widow, Jane Buffett, and former business manager/co-trustee Rick Mozenter. The two have filed dueling claims accusing each other of hostility and mismanagement of the assets, which include a stake in Buffett’s successful island-themed hospitality company, Margaritaville.

Mo money mo problems, indeed.

Other top stories this week…

CERTIFIED WITNESS LIST – Drake’s legal team filed a list of 63 potential witnesses in his defamation lawsuit accusing Universal Music Group (UMG) of boosting Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping diss track “Not Like Us.” The list includes some music industry bigwigs, including UMG CEO Sir Lucian Grainge, Interscope Records CEO John Janick and Republic Records co-founders Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman. Drake notably did not list Lamar as a potential witness, though UMG included the Los Angeles rapper on its own, much more concise potential witness list of nine names.

COPYRIGHT DEFEAT – A federal judge threw out a lawsuit that accused Karol G and Tiësto of copying Cuban-American composer Rene Lorente-Garcia’s 1998 song “Algo Diferente” for their 2021 dance-pop hit “Don’t Be Shy.” The judge held that Lorente-Garcia’s “expert” was unqualified to opine on supposed similarities between the two songs, noting that the former A&R executive retained for the case had no musicology expertise and offered up only “personal intuition” to support the infringement claims.

EXTORTION ACCUSATIONS – Michael Jackson’s estate identified Frank Cascio as the previously anonymous man behind a supposed extortion plot. The Jackson estate claimed in a new court filing that Cascio, who had known the King of Pop since childhood and went on to become the singer’s manager, fabricated abuse allegations in pursuit of a $213 million settlement a few years back. The estate said this was a total about-face after years of Cascio publicly defending Jackson against claims of pedophilia in national television interviews and his 2011 memoir, My Friend Michael.

BID-RIGGING INDICTMENT – Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke was hit with criminal charges stemming from the company’s 2017 contract to build the Moody Center Arena in Austin. The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division claimed Leiweke conspired with the chief executive of Legends Hospitality to rig the bidding for the construction and management of the $338 million, 19,000-seat arena — allegations that Leiweke called “wrong on the facts and the law” in an internal staff memo announcing his resignation the day of the indictment.

IP INJUNCTION – T.I. was hit with a legal injunction that prohibits him from releasing his upcoming comedy movie under the title “Situationships” while litigating claims that he stole the moniker from creator Cylla Senii’s web series of the same name. A judge said Senii had a strong case for trademark infringement and that she would suffer “irreparable harm” if T.I. were allowed to use the name for his movie, which filmed in Atlanta last year and is now in post-production.

DEMO DUST-UP – Travis Scott, SZA and Future asked to dismiss gospel singer Victory Boyd’s copyright lawsuit over their 2023 hit “Telekinesis.” The group of hitmakers said the case is fatally flawed because the demo at issue in the dispute, an unreleased track called “Like the Way It Sounds,” was co-written by Ye (formerly Kanye West). According to the motion, Ye expressly provided Scott, SZA and Future with this demo and authorized them to use it for “Telekinesis.”

K-POP PROBE – South Korea’s financial watchdog referred Bang Si-hyuk, chairman and founder of K-pop powerhouse HYBE, to prosecutors for possible criminal charges over the company’s initial public offering (IPO). Authorities say Bang made roughly 400 billion won ($291 million) by falsely assuring investors that HYBE had no plans to go public, persuading them to sell their shares to a private equity fund in which he held a financial stake when the IPO process had already been initiated. HYBE has denied any wrongdoing.

DIDDY CIVIL LAWSUIT – A judge significantly trimmed down the claims in one of the first civil sexual abuse lawsuits that was brought against Sean “Diddy” Combs last year. The judge said the statute of limitations has expired for allegations that the rap mogul raped Fashion Institute of Technology student April Lampros three times in the 1990s, though Lampros is allowed to keep suing over a fourth incident in which she says Combs forcibly kissed and groped her in the early aughts.

LABELS ON DEFENSE – Nationwide shoe retailer DSW filed an unusual lawsuit against Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment that flipped the script on the major labels’ common practice of taking legal action against businesses that don’t pay for the songs in their social media posts. DSW alleged that it shouldn’t have to buy so-called “synch” licenses to use music on TikTok and Instagram, and that the labels’ frequent settlement demands sent to brands are “opportunistic attempts to extract still more money for copyrights on which they have already received full compensation.”

MORE YE CLAIMS – Ye’s former assistant Lauren Pisciotta added rape and sex-trafficking claims to her bombshell sexual harassment lawsuit against the controversial rapper. On top of previous allegations that Ye regularly masturbated in front of Pisciotta and sent her explicit texts and photos, they rapper’s former assistant-turned-chief of staff claimed in an amended complaint that he also used coercion and false promises of career advancement to grope and orally assault her. A rep for Ye denied the new claims as “fantasy fiction.”

AI ANALYSIS – Two recent court decisions struck a blow for book authors suing generative AI platforms on copyright grounds, with judges concluding that training large language models (LLM) on unlicensed books is “transformative” and thus constitutes “fair use.” While that left many to question whether music companies’ own infringement lawsuits against Anthropic, Suno and Udio are similarly doomed, legal experts told Billboard it’s far from clear that this same reasoning will apply to the music industry — and the rulings might even provide a roadmap for the labels and music publishers to strengthen their cases.

ASSAULT INVESTIGATION – Police began investigating Trey Songz after cameraman Isaa Mansoor accused the R&B singer of punching him and destroying more than $5,000 worth of equipment following a concert at a Long Island restaurant. A representative for Songz disputed Mansoor’s version of events, which was captured on video and posted to Instagram. The Suffolk County Police Department said no criminal charges have yet been filed.

RAPE SENTENCING – K-pop star Taeil, who found fame as part of SM Entertainment boy band NCT, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for rape. Taeil pled guilty last month to raping a heavily intoxicated Chinese tourist after meeting her at a bar in Seoul. The crime was committed alongside two other men, who also received the same prison sentence in Seoul Central District Court.

BOTTLE ATTACK – Chris Brown pled not guilty to two additional criminal counts stemming from his alleged assault on music producer Abe Diaw at a London nightclub in 2023. The R&B singer, who previously pled not guilty to his most serious charge of unlawfully and maliciously causing grievous bodily harm with intent, also denied charges of assault causing actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon — a bottle — in a public place.