Music News

Photo Credit: Melissa Lee / Marine Corps Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ sex-trafficking case gets underway in about a month, but his defense team has asked for an adjournment. Instead, they want to see the May 12 starting date pushed back by two weeks. His lawyers argue the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the SDNY has not been fully sharing material such as emails from a former Combs employee. They allege that the prosecution’s witness ‘Victim-4’ seems to have “cherry picked messages” shared on WhatsApp. Outs

Vobile has officially announced a Pex buyout deal. Photo Credit: Pex Self-described IP protection, monetization, and marketing specialist Vobile has officially acquired Pex. Santa Clara-headquartered Vobile confirmed the buyout in a brief release today. Founded two decades back by Yangbin Wang (who doubles as CEO), the publicly traded business bills itself as “a worldwide leader in digital content protection and transaction services.” As things stand, the purchaser is said to provide digital

Senators from both sides of the aisle are reportedly urging the DOJ to zero in on the recently announced deal between Live Nation and Fanatics. Photo Credit: Bernini123 Besides fending off a Justice Department lawsuit — and regulatory obstacles across the pond — Live Nation is now grappling with a new round of bipartisan antitrust scrutiny. That scrutiny pertains to the sports side of the Ticketmaster parent’s operations, but is certainly important from the perspective of Live Nation’s broade

Photo Credit: Molson Coors Beverage Co. Molson Coors Beverage Co. is releasing a beer-filled vinyl called ‘Dive Bar Sounds.’ The vinyl record actually plays and is filled with Miller High Life beer. The beer-filled vinyl record goes on pre-sale later this week for an $18 price point. Miller says each dive bar tells its story through sounds, from the creak of the door opening to the clink of glasses. “Now these iconic sounds are captured in this High Life-infused vinyl. Here’s a peek at what’s

Photo Credit: Olivier Bergeron TikTok made nearly $39 billion from its US operations last year, drawing the question of the economic impact of a federal ban to the forefront. Beijing-based TikTok parent ByteDance earned a quarter of its total revenue last year from its US TikTok operations, according to sources close to the matter. The company’s international revenue jumped 63% to a whopping $39 billion in 2024, a quarter of ByteDance’s total revenue of $155 billion for the year — its highest

Photo Credit: Mengwen Cao for Global Citizen The Global Citizen Festival will return to Central Park on September 27, this time with a search for a new hitmaker with Colossal and Live Nation. The Global Citizen Festival, driving millions of actions from global citizens and billions of dollars in commitments to end extreme poverty, is back for another year. The 2025 edition of the Global Citizen Festival campaign once again supports and partners with a variety of nonprofit organizations aligned

Photo Credit: EMRA The United Arab Emirates (UAE) have established the first collective management society—the Emirates Music Rights Association (EMRA). Recent legislative and regulatory action on the UAE grants a collective management license to EMRA, authorizing it to oversee the collection and distribution of music creators’ rights across the country. The move aims to strengthen the creative economy by ensuring compliance with copyright laws across broadcasting and content platforms. The l

Photo Credit: People Magazine / Instagram Green Day’s headlining set brought the heat to Coachella with a firework that hit a palm tree, causing it to catch fire dangerously close to the crowd. During Green Day’s set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’s first weekend on Saturday, a firework lit a palm tree on fire in the nearby artist section. The fire was dangerously close to a crowd of onlookers. “This firework just flew into the crowd and exploded right next to FaZe Banks and

Photo Credit: Robot Picnic / YouTube The LA Philharmonic embarked on unfamiliar territory with a guest-filled Coachella set led by conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic delivered an unforgettable 50-minute set at Coachella on Saturday, featuring stars like Becky G, LL Cool J, Maren Morris, Zedd, and Laufey. The stars performed some of their biggest hits, accompanied by the iconic symphony. The outdoor stage in Indio is a far cry from what the orchestra is accustom

Photo Credit: Sheléa for PBS Sheléa stars in the upcoming special, “Aretha! With Sheléa and The Pacific Symphony,” a televised tribute to soul legend Aretha Franklin. Hot off a national tour as Stevie Wonder’s special guest on his 2025 “Sing Your Song!” tour, Sheléa is now starring in an upcoming PBS special, “Aretha! With Sheléa and The Pacific Symphony.” The televised tribute to the legendary Queen of Soul will premiere on PBS stations starting May 30, and will also be available for free str

Photo Credit: BubbleTeaNeo / reddit The death toll for the Jet Set nightclub roof collapse in the Dominican Republic rose to 226 people over the weekend. Officials said they were able to rescue 189 people alive from the rubble, while 200 more were injured. 14 still remain hospitalized, four of those in critical condition. The roof of the night club collapsed during a merengue concert on April 8 during a live performance by Rubby Pérez. Rubby Pérez was tragically killed in the accident, as was

Photo Credit: Windows Apple Music now offers Dolby Atmos playback on Windows, upping its support of devices outside the ecosystem. The strategy makes sense to capitalize for Apple’s Services division—main competitor Spotify’s high-fidelity audio offering is still MIA. Dolby Atmos is a surround-sound audio format that allows music to be heard in an immersive, three-dimensional audio experience. The feature was added to Apple Music for Windows in a recent update—which will require a PC and headp

Luxembourg City. Photo Credit: Cedric Letsch Is Spotify kicking off another major pricing recalibration? Possibly, as the service has nixed its “Mini” plan and rolled out across-the-board Benelux price increases. Spotify just recently emailed the relevant customers with word of the price increases, which are also making a splash in local media. And the axed “Mini” tier, which had offered mobile-only Premium access on a week-to-week (and, in some countries, day-to-day) basis, is spurring discu

Mumbai, where Hungama, now preparing to shut down its music streaming service, is headquartered. Photo Credit: Hardik Joshi So long, Hungama Music: The Indian streaming service is reportedly set to cease operating this coming Tuesday, April 15th. Music Ally identified the quick-approaching shutdown today, pointing to an official update that the Mumbai-headquartered company provided to users. “Starting 15th April, 2025, the Music Section will bid goodbye as we make way for exciting new experi

Photo Credit: Tingey Law Jay-Z’s battle with Jane Doe lawyer Tony Buzbee heats up as Buzbee files to dismiss the rapper’s lawsuit against him — and makes fresh allegations, too. Tony Buzbee, who represents over a hundred alleged Sean “Diddy” Combs victims, has filed a motion to dismiss Jay-Z’s defamation lawsuit against him. Among those Buzbee represents is a Jane Doe who accused Diddy and Jay-Z of raping her when she was a minor in 2000. Jay-Z has staunchly denied those allegations, which cu

Photo Credit: Spotify Spotify invests over a million dollars to help authors and publishers produce more audiobooks in other languages, starting with French and Dutch. Spotify has announced a plan to invest €1 million ($1.1 million) to boost audiobook production in languages other than English, starting with French and Dutch. Adoption of Spotify’s audiobook offerings has been relatively slow in the Netherlands and France, which is why Spotify wants to start with these languages. According to

Photo Credit: Creators Corp. Coachella has teamed up with UGC game studio Creators Corp. for a new Fortnite Creative game called Coachella Pillars. The multiplayer showdown launched today and transports players to the Coachella Canvas in a music-fueled competition. Suspended above the festival grounds, 2-12 players will stand atop Pillars of Sounds, attempting to knock each other off within spaces inspired by the festival’s environment—all set to a backdrop of the festival’s music. The map fea

BTS, whose Army diehards are coordinating to report AI deepfakes depicting Hybe artists. Photo Credit: HopeSmiling BTS agency Hybe’s deepfake crackdown is in full swing, and South Korean police have made multiple arrests in connection with alleged AI-powered crimes. We touched on that deepfake-takedown push yesterday, when Ador vowed to pursue legal action against those making “malicious” online comments about NewJeans. The overarching Hybe, we noted, has for years been spearheading anti-haras

Photo Credit: Nelly by Adam Bielawski / CC by 3.0 The last St. Lunatics member who was still suing Nelly for copyright infringement has dropped his lawsuit. But this battle may not be over yet. St. Lunatics member Ali Jones has dropped the lawsuit the group filed against former member Nelly last year. The filing claimed the group never received proper credit or royalties for Nelly’s 2000 album, Country Grammar. The rest of the group — Murphy Lee, Kyjuan, and City Spud — all dropped out of the

Photo Credit: Global Gaming League The Global Gaming League has raised $10 million in funding from celebrity investors including T-Pain and Flavor Flav. The league is not focused on eSports, but rather a league that brings together every kind of player. GGL was founded by Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum music producer and entrepreneur Clinton Sparks, in partnership with T-Pain and tech entrepreneur Jeff Hoffman (Priceline, UBid, Booking.com). The GGL is a multi-title gaming league with celebr

The Korean National Police Agency in Seoul. Photo Credit: Gohsuke Takama A step towards reconciliation? Despite its contractual dispute with NewJeans, Hybe’s Ador is bringing out the legal guns to protect the girl group from online harassment. Ador disclosed as much in a lengthy social media post, claiming at the outset that “malicious” comments targeting K-pop artists have seen a “significant escalation” as of late. Said comments include but aren’t limited to appearance-related criticism, “f

Photo Credit: Kate Nash by Man Alive! / CC by 2.0 Kate Nash calls out Spotify for paltry payments, but Spotify responds by saying they sent her check to Universal — so it’s out of their hands. In an all-too familiar situation, another artist has called out Spotify for piddly payments on a significant number of streams. This time, it’s Kate Nash, whose 2007 hit “Foundations” has over 100 million plays on Spotify. But Nash told BBC’s Woman’s Hour podcast that she’s hardly seen a dime. “‘Foundat

Photo Credit: Weezer by Hunter Kahn / CC by 4.0 Weezer is still playing Coachella this weekend despite bassist Scott Shriner’s wife Jillian pointing a gun at and getting shot by police this week. Police shot Weezer bassist Scott Shriner’s wife Jillian on Tuesday while in pursuit of three suspects who fled on foot during a hit and run. The suspects made their way to Shriner’s neighborhood, where 51-year-old Jillian Shriner confronted police outside her neighbor’s house, armed with a handgun. A

The Internet Archive and the major labels are discussing a possible settlement in their Great 78 Project copyright infringement battle. Photo Credit: Mick Haupt Multiple years and twists later, the major labels’ copyright infringement lawsuit against the Internet Archive looks to be trending towards a resolution. That’s according to the litigants themselves, which just recently requested a 30-day stay in the case. The presiding judge promptly approved the sought pause, and as a result, we sho

Photo Credit: Lady Gaga by Justin Higuchi / CC by 2.0 Coachella 2025 is right around the corner, and there’s still time to plan a trip. Here’s how to score last-minute tickets, parking, lodging, and more. Coachella’s Weekend 1 kicks off on Friday, and this year’s edition of the much-beloved festival features headliners Lady Gaga, Travis Scott, and Post Malone. Other performers include The Misfits, Missy Elliott, Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion, Japanese Breakfast, and many more set to play in