Michael Jackson and His ‘Simpsons’ Episode Goes Missing from Disney+

An episode of The Simpsons that featured Michael Jackson has gone missing from Disney+. The episode in question came in 1991 — during the premiere of season 3 of the long-running animation series — which was a couple of years before child a…

Big Machine Calls Taylor Swift a Liar. Taylor Swift Whips Out an Email to Prove It.

Big Machine Label Group says Taylor Swift is fabricating claims over her American Music Awards performance.  Taylor Swift says Big Machine is lying about her lying — and produces an email to prove it. And another spat between the adult millionaires com…

Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) Officially Granted $62 Million in Startup Capital

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), which is tasked with tracking, collecting, and distributing mechanical licenses from streaming services in the U.S., has just been granted a $62 million starting budget. Initially, the MLC — principally backed…

Taylor Swift Says She’s Prohibited from Performing Her Own Songs at the American Music Awards

Despite being slated to perform at the upcoming American Music Awards, Taylor Swift says she’s being blocked from performing her own songs. The extremely contentious battle between Taylor Swift and both Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun has taken…

Migos Win ‘Walk It Talk It’ Copyright Infringement Case

The hip-hop group Migos has won a copyright suit filed by an artist from North Carolina who claimed that their song “Walk It Talk it” infringed on his own. In October of 2018, rapper M.O.S. — whose real name is Leander Pickett —…

The Week’s Top U.S. Festivals & Tours, Presented by SeatGeek

The most popular concert tickets, tour stops, and artists around the country, based on SeatGeek data through Wednesday, November 13th. Welcome to our weekly report on the world of live music, based on exclusive data from SeatGeek, a ticketing platform …

SoundCloud Jumps Into Pay-For-Promotion Game With ‘Promote on SoundCloud’

SoundCloud has announced the launch of a new self-service advertising tool, which will allow the company’s Premier artists to promote their music for a fee. Called Promote, the service places an ad for song tracks on top of both user feeds and mo…

Radio Broadcasters, Streaming Services Demand a Truly Comprehensive Music Rights Database

The National Association of Broadcasters, DiMA, and dozens of other organizations are demanding the creation of a far more comprehensive music rights database. Since the passage of the Music Modernization Act (MMA) into law in 2018, publishers and stre…

Tencent Prevails Against NetEase in Jay Chou Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

Tencent Music Entertainment has prevailed in its copyright infringement case against NetEase Cloud Music over the latter’s unlicensed use of Jay Chou’s songs. A Chinese court in the city of Shenzhen has ordered NetEase to pay Tencent 850,00…

The Weeknd Fails to Reduce Copyright Infringement Lawsuit on ‘A Lonely Night’

A California federal court has denied a request by The Weeknd to reduce the scope of a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against him by three British songwriters who believe his song “A Lonely Night” plagiarizes theirs. The suit was fi…