Earlier this month, at the annual Coachella Music Festival, concertgoers were stunned to witness the performance of a lifetime, or should we say, an afterlife-time.  At the festival, nearly 100,000 fans witnessed a holographic Tupac Shakur, who died in 1996, performing alongside Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.  Shakur appeared on stage, performing two songs and [...]

And now for some music industry gossip: So I was hanging in Miami last week for Ultra (a.k.a. fist-pumping hell) when I overheard two well-known “industry bros” quietly discussing the intricacies of music publishing, an emerging area of neighboring rights, and other ways to collect a check while doing nothing but sitting on a tropical [...]

Probably not the first time. Probably not the last time. Kanye West is being sued over copyright infringement of an uncleared sample on his song “Girls Girls Girls.” Read all about it here, here, and here.

The Eagles’ Don Henley has recently threatened to sue up-and-coming R&B artist and Odd Future fellow Frank Ocean if he continues to perform his song “American Wedding” which samples the classic song “Hotel California.” Is this a worthwhile venture for Don Henley? Why not let a new artist revive the music and have a chance [...]

Everyone has their “back in the house” routine. After turning the key, I greet my hyper puppy, hang my coat, and turn on the television to create the background for the rest of my coming home ritual. On the evening of Saturday, February 11, 2012 CNN’s Don Lemon was in my living room telling me [...]

Levon Helm of The Band has lost his appeal against an ad agency’s use of the song “The Weight” in an advertisement for Cingular Wireless from 2007.  The appeals court ruled that his record label had permission to license the song to the ad agency.  Helm, unsurprisingly, disagrees.

Jeremy Dussolliet and Tim Sommers, also known as producers Kinetics & One Love, are being sued by a songwriter named Christine Dominguez who claims she provided vocals for B.o.B.’s “Airplanes” song but was not credited/compensated.

Whoops – looks like someone really could have done better. According to Billboard, Drake’s ex-girlfriend has filed a lawsuit over “Marvin’s Room,” Drake’s super-popular song that features her voice as the recipient of Drake’s late-night lovelorn drunk dialing.

Predictably, the first “used digital music” store is being sued by a major label for copyright infringement. We’re just surprised it took this long.

Reggae legend Bob Marley’s estate has settled a lawsuit that challenged record label Universal Music Group’s hold over key recordings and also claimed underpayment of royalties from digital downloads.  In September, District Court Judge Denise Cote found for UMG on the issue of authorship, concluding that the Marley recordings were “works made for hire,” making the record label the [...]