In the wake of Clive Davis‘ passing, much has been written by others about the music executive’s accomplishments — but Davis also recently discussed those accomplishments in his own words. Only a few months before his death, the industry legend sat down for a Zoom interview with a former executive who worked for him, in which he reflected on his long career.

Rick Bleiweiss — a former senior vp of sales for Arista Records and, before that, Island Records, who also served as a senior vp of marketing and field operations for Arista’s distributor, BMG Distribution — interviewed Davis in December. The interview is wide-ranging, covering his early career as a corporate lawyer and later transition to general counsel for Columbia Records before becoming president of that label in 1965.

From there, the interview covered some of his biggest signings and his dealings with the likes of Janis Joplin, Chicago, Bruce Springsteen and Santana.

Bleiweiss — who has since become an executive in the book publishing industry as well as a mystery author, with three books in the Pidnon Scorpion series, among other writings — also got Davis to talk in depth about his termination from Arista by executives from the label’s parent, BMG, and, even more revealingly, about his subsequent business demands in starting up J Records. Davis’ versions of those stories are even more detailed than last week’s memorial column on him by another former Davis executive, Charles Goldstuck. (Davis was also interviewed by his son, Fred Davis, in May at the Amplify Music Investment Summit.)

To watch the full almost 60-minute interview, follow this link, provided to Billboard by Bleiweiss.

BRISBANE, Australia — Harvey Lister, president and CEO for the Asia Pacific and Middle East region, is calling time on a career in live entertainment that clocks in at more than a half century.

Lister will continue to support the company over the next 12 months in a senior advisor role, according to a statement issued this week by Legends Global, a role that sees him support the transition of the business and focus on several “major pipeline projects.”

With his decision, Lister frees up precious time to dedicate to his wife Margie, who has been battling Parkinson’s disease. Lister’s official departure date is June 30, 2027.

“The APAC region is performing strongly, delivering some of our best financial and operational results we’ve ever achieved which reflects what we are seeing right across the Legends Global group,” explains Lister in a corporate release. “It’s a good time to transition out of the business when it is at the absolute top, with a strong pipeline of projects into the future. I’m looking forward to assisting the transition of the business into safe hands with Peter Loxton and our long-term leadership team.”

At the same time, long-serving APAC/MENA COO Peter Loxton leads the region, effective July 1, reporting to Legends Global CEO, Dan Levy. Meanwhile, Paul Sergeant continues to lead the group’s activities across the Middle East and Asian regions as executive VP.

“I am honoured to be leading Legends Global (APAC) from today,” writes Loxton in a LinkedIn post. “Harvey didn’t hire me, he took a chance and backed me into a joint venture in 2011, we won a project and when that finished, offered me a job. Since then we, and the APAC team, have grown the business, faced many challenges and made a difference. My best wishes to Harvey and his family and I look forward to his guidance into the bright future ahead.”

Lister has been saluted on several occasions in recognition of his service to the arts, tourism, sport and to the venue management and events industries. One of the finest came five years ago, when Lister was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Queen’s 2021 Birthday Honours list. Just last year, he was inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.

From its regional headquarters in Brisbane, Australia, Legends Global books, operates and manages a
network of venues that includes Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane; Kai Tak Sports Park Main Stadium, Hong Kong; and 50% ownership of VenuesLive, the operator of Optus Stadium, Perth, plus arenas, theaters and convention centers across the region.

Lister cut his teeth as a store announcer at retailer Myer before a pivot into PR for two shopping centers. During a stint with 4IP radio, he created the Queensland Rock Music Awards. Then, in 1975, Lister launched a concert and event management business, working closely with promoters to tour live bands such as Sherbet, Skyhooks and AC/DC’s first ever tour.  

Years later, and after a series of mergers, Lister secured management for Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Cairns Convention Centre, Sydney’s Olympic Stadium (now known as Accor Stadium), a network of cultural centers and live theaters in Perth, Brisbane’s 52,000 seat Suncorp Stadium and the Darwin Convention Centre. 

Lister was a key figure in the 2019 merger of AEG Facilities and SMG, two of the world’s leading venue management and services companies, in a “game changer” deal for the live industry, he remarked at that time.

“Harvey is a ‘once in a generation’ visionary, and I was lucky enough to meet him in the early days of commercial radio in Brisbane in the early 1970s,” explains decades-long business partner Rod Pilbeam. “We shared a joint love of live entertainment and since then an amazing career, business, and lifelong friendship.”

Legends Global CEO Levy hailed Lister “for his outstanding leadership and contribution to the industry globally. “

As many can attest, he continues, “Harvey is never short on stories and he is held in the highest regard around the world in the live entertainment industry. Through hard work, commercial acumen, and sheer determination, he has created countless opportunities for artists, promoters, major government and venue owners, and business partners throughout his incredible 50-year journey.

“One of Harvey’s greatest legacies is a strong team of capable leaders and the successful business he has built across APAC and MENA. I look forward to developing that further with Peter Loxton and his leaders.”

When the Rodgers family began restoring Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Okla. — roughly eight months after purchasing the dilapidated 1924 building and business — they found handfuls of ticket stubs that read “dime-a-dance.” The tickets dated back to when venue founder Madison Cain opened the space as Cain’s Dance Academy in the 1930s, during which men who lived off Tulsa’s booming oil and gas business would spend 10 cents for a dance lesson taught by a man named Howard Turner.

“Turner would hold these dances where he would have women…there to provide dances for men who would buy a 10-cent ticket and come in,” says Chad Rodgers, who currently co-owns Cain’s Ballroom alongside his brother Hunter Rodgers. “Then [he] and the venue would split the proceeds with the women.”

More than 100 years later, the venue still has a painted sign inside advertising dancing at Cain’s on various nights of the week — and it’s not the only relic that remains. The log cabin-patterned dance floor still bounces as it did in the 1930s on what was rumored to be truck springs under the floorboards. The ballroom walls also boast large sepia-toned portraits of folks like Oliver Wheeler “O.W.” Mayo — who managed Bob Wills, known as the founder of Western swing — and Turner, as well as other luminaries who helped make the honky tonk a historic spot off the iconic Route 66. They include Wills and Gene Autry, along with Pat Breene, the queen of Western disc jockeys, and big band leader Spade Cooley, whose life took a dark turn when he was convicted of murdering his second wife in 1961.

“When we took over in 2002, it was like, ‘Should [these portraits] still be there?’ It gives the building and the performance area such a cool historic thing,” says Chad. “A lot of the artists on stage will say it’s so cool to look out there and see all these famous people, or people from the past that have [put] a stamp on either music history or just history.”

For the Rodgers family, their hefty investment in Cain’s was always about preserving its history for the city of Tulsa, not replacing it. In the 1930s, Cain’s became a literal beacon of culture, broadcasting live radio shows hosted by Wills and his brother, Johnny Lee Wills, that “popularized Western swing,” says Julie Watson, Cain’s Centennial coordinator. (Cain’s still flies a banner over the stage that reads, “The Home of Bob Wills.”)

This golden era ended by the 1960s, when Cain’s fell out of popularity. It wasn’t until 1976 that its fortunes began to change: That year, Cain’s was taken over by promoter Larry Shaeffer, who brought such stars as U2, Van Halen, Tom Petty, Metallica, Eric Clapton and Elvis Costello to the venue.

“There’s some good pictures of Van Halen in the Cain’s office when they played here. They weren’t even the headliner,” says Chad. “They were opening for Montrose, and they got paid like $500. I think it was ‘82.”

“Shaeffer was just taking anything he could get,” Hunter Rodgers tells Billboard. “He says it was lucky for him to get these acts. He didn’t really know what he was doing at the time, I don’t think.”

That openness to book even the most chaotic of bands led to Cain’s becoming part of punk rock history. In 1978, the Sex Pistols scheduled a run of nine U.S. tour dates (only ever completing seven), including a Jan. 11 show at Cain’s.

“Sex Pistols [were booked because] Shaeffer got a phone call and they said, ‘We’re gonna route this tour, do you want a date?’ And he was like, ‘Sure,’” Chad says.

After the Pistols finished their rowdy set at Cain’s, an angry Sid Vicious punched a hole in the wall. The piece of drywall with the hole is now framed in the venue’s office.

“The looks of it aren’t great, but it’s the centerpiece of our office. Everyone wants to see it,” says Chad. “I took a picture of Bono putting his fist up to it.”

Despite bringing the venue back to prominence, Shaeffer’s legacy was marred by some of his bad business practices, which reportedly left him broke by the 1990s. “It was a different time then,” says Chad. “We have people all the time that say, ‘I remember when people had cocaine on the tables, and there’d be beer bottles getting smashed and people dancing on the tables.’”

After more than 20 years, Shaeffer sold Cain’s in 1999 to new owners who did not last long. By 2002, Chad and Hunter’s parents, James and Alice Rodgers, saw that the iconic venue was for sale. The next morning, James called his son Chad and said, “Let’s go down and look at Cain’s.” With the revitalization of downtown Tulsa at the time, including an upcoming arena (now the BOK Center), the nearly 80-year-old Cain’s seemed like a good prospect.

“There was dust all over everything. There were chains on the doors. There had never been central heat and air. There were buckets collecting water coming through the roof,” says Chad. “Most people couldn’t have seen through what luckily our father and mother saw.”

James and Alice purchased Cain’s and subsequently handed the keys to Chad and Hunter, the latter of whom was studying audio engineering in Florida at the time. The family knew that if they were going to make Cain’s a legitimate business again, they would have to renovate the venue and its reputation.

“When the news came out that we were going to [restore it], we got a lot of letters,” says Chad. “People were really concerned that we were going to take away from the history and the authenticity of what Cain’s was.”

In May 2003, the Rodgers family temporarily closed Cain’s to work on a full restoration that included the venue’s first-ever fire sprinkler system and air-conditioning unit. They also redid all the electrical and plumbing and put in new bathrooms, replaced the roof, removed the drop-down ceilings, updated the bar and concessions area, and added a small mezzanine. At a certain point, they also had to decide what to do with the “spring-loaded” floors.

“At the end of the life of that old floor, you could stand at the back of the room, and a four-foot person may be able to dunk on a 10-foot basketball hoop,” jokes Chad of the floor, which was springy not because of actual springs but because it hadn’t been properly reinforced. “We were very insistent that when we redid it, that it had to flex. It had to still have the same feel because of that rumor of the spring-loaded was there for so long.”

“Since then, we have replaced it twice,” Hunter says. “Now, it is basically concrete, but it does still flex because there’s some neoprene pads throughout the floor.”

By October 2003, the venue’s initial renovation was complete, allowing Cain’s to open its doors to the community with a show by Dwight Yoakam.

“The Rodgers family, when they bought it, put a lot of money in to renovate it, but they kept all of that feel that makes it completely unique,” says Watson. The family didn’t have much experience running a music venue, however; Chad’s only experience in live music at the time was running a sports bar that occasionally hosted a local band.

“We took our lumps until we renovated and even for a little bit, for about a year afterwards. It took a lot of campaigning getting agents to realize that Cain’s is back,” says Chad. “We also had to patch up some wounds because there was an owner that we bought the business from, and they had burnt a bridge with Willie Nelson and his agent.”

Nelson and his team agreed to return to the venue on the condition that they get a cut of the bar sales. To get more artists through the door, Chad took to cold-calling booking agents.

“I felt like for a long time they were taking advantage of me. It was like, ‘This guy needs shows. He’s going to pay. Just quote him something,’” he says. “Initially, we were blood in the water and sharks just circled us.”

Cain’s was inadvertently making amends for past owners who didn’t handle deals correctly or had gone back on their word. For a time, the Rodgers overpaid for certain acts, spending portions of their own cut to cover everything on the artists’ riders.

“The first time we brought [Bone Thugs N Harmony], I booked 12 [hotel] rooms for them and spent like $1,000 at that time when I really didn’t have to. Then they trashed the rooms, and I had to pay all the damages,” says Chad, who admits the show was still amazing. “I didn’t realize the contract and riders for every artist are pretty much the same, regardless [of whether] they’re playing a 400-cap room or an arena, other than their sound and lighting stuff. I’d get a contract that’s like, ‘We want 16 single rooms and we want a limo or a van and all these things,’ and at that time I didn’t realize that this is [a] negotiation.”

The Rodgers wised up and got a lawyer to help hammer out the details. They also discovered folders of old offer sheets and budgets from previous owners that they used to determine what to spend on advertising and deal breakdowns. Slowly, they began to put Cain’s back on the map.

“I realized that we were doing the right thing when Bob [Dylan] wanted to come play,” says Chad. Dylan took the stage in 2024, and things have “kept flourishing” ever since, he says.

Under the Rodgers family, Cain’s has hosted artists that run the gamut, including Snoop Dogg, Jason Isbell, Chappell Roan, Turnpike Troubadours, Beck, The Strokes, Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton, Lainey Wilson, Blake Shelton, Wilco, Brittany Howard, Mavis Staples, The Descendants, Colter Wall, Flogging Molly, Iron and Wine and Tech N9ne.

Jack White, who first played Cain’s in 2010 with supergroup The Dead Weather, came to love the venue and Tulsa so much that he later purchased property in the city. In 2019, White’s band The Raconteurs became the first act to play Cain’s three nights in a row. Later that year, the band released the live recordings as a special vinyl package. In a press statement announcing the release, White wrote of the venue, “This is my favorite place to play in the world.”

In 2021, Green Day performed a surprise show just days before the band’s stadium concert at the 40,000-capacity Global Life Field. And this past April, GWAR performed and brought the owners a framed poster from when they played Cain’s 30 years ago. Teaming up with the local Woody Guthrie Center and the Bob Dylan Center, the venue has also put on once-in-a-lifetime events, including an acoustic set with Bono and The Edge in 2025, marking the band’s return to the venue for the first time since 1982. “They said the first time they were at Cain’s, only one person in the band was legal age and could get any alcohol. So, this time when they went on stage, they said, ‘Well, now we can get served,’” says Chad.

Since purchasing Cain’s in 2002, the Rodgers family has felt the weight of being the custodians of such a historic venue — yet that remains a driving force for them. Says Chad, “We like the challenge of trying to stay relevant.”

A jury has ruled that Chris Brown should pay nearly $13 million to a woman who was mauled by the R&B star’s 200-pound dog while working as a housekeeper at his California home.

Jurors determined on Tuesday (June 30) that Brown and his company Black Pyramid LLC owe $12.9 million in damages to Maria Avila for negligence, according to Michael C. Murphy Jr., an attorney representing the victim’s sister, Patricia Avila. Patricia, who was working alongside her sister on the day of the attack, was separately awarded $885,000 for emotional distress. Maria’s husband Oscar Olivo won another $50,000 in the verdict, Murphy said.

The incident occurred in 2020, when Maria was emptying trash outside Brown’s Tarzana, Calif., home. She was attacked out of nowhere by Hades, the singer’s Caucasian shepherd — a massive, aggressive dog breed notorious for their use as guard dogs at Russian prisons. Maria claims Hades ripped off “large chunks of her skin,” ultimately leading to permanent facial disfigurement, scarring, vision loss and nerve damage.

Maria sued over the incident in 2021, and a two-week trial was held in June. Brown accepted some liability for negligence ahead of the trial, but he disputed the extent of Maria’s injuries and argued that she was partially at fault for the incident. Brown testified on June 18 that he personally warned both Maria and Patricia that multiple dogs on the property were “absolutely not” friendly, and that they shouldn’t go outside unless accompanied by security staff.

The star also testified that Hades was not his personal pet. Rather, he said the dog was purchased and looked after by his security guards to help protect the house from break-ins. “I get a lot of stalker-type situations,” he told the jury.

Murphy, Patricia’s lawyer, told Billboard following Tuesday’s verdict, “After more than five years of litigating against Chris Brown, we are thrilled that we were able to get justice for our client, Patricia.”

“We are so happy for her and her family after everything they went through on that horrible day,” added Murphy. “It was an honor to represent her.”

Reps for Maria, Olivo and Brown did not immediately return requests for comment on the verdict. Brown is currently on the road co-headlining his Raymond & Brown Tour with Usher.

Jermaine Jackson is getting another chance at defending himself against claims that he raped a session musician coordinator in 1988.

The Jackson 5 member, who has also had a prolific solo career with Billboard Hot 100 hits like “Daddy’s Home”, “Let’s Get Serious” and “Do What You Do,” was sued for sexual assault and battery in 2023. Jackson did not respond to the claims for more than two years, leading a Los Angeles judge to award a $6.5 million default judgment to accuser Rita Butler Barrett last month.  

It was at this point that Jackson finally appeared in court, flatly denying the rape allegations and saying he was unaware of the case until reading media reports about the default judgment. The singer, who lives in Bahrain, argued that he did not receive legal papers served at his mother’s Encino home or via notices in the Los Angeles Times. He also noted that he changed his name to “Jermaine Jacksun” in 2013, meaning he was sued under the wrong legal name.

Judge Elaine W. Mandel credited these arguments in her Tuesday (June 30) order, obtained and first reported by Billboard, which wiped the $6.5 million judgment and restarted the litigation process.

“The failure to use Jacksun’s true legal name is fatal, compounded by plaintiff’s decision to publish in Los Angeles, while Jacksun was apparently living overseas,” wrote the judge. “The court recognizes the difficulties in locating defendants living abroad. However, choosing to publish in Los Angeles after receiving notice that Jacksun was likely abroad, and doing so with an incorrect name, leaves no choice but to void the default judgment.”

Jackson will now get another opportunity to file legal papers responding to Barrett’s lawsuit, which alleges he showed up at her Los Angeles-area home unannounced in the spring of 1988, forced his way through the door and violently raped her. A music contractor who worked with Jackson in the late 1980s, Barrett brought the case under a one-year legislative window that lifted the statute of limitations for certain sexual assault claims.

“Jermaine is adamant that he did not rape the plaintiff,” said Jackson’s lawyer, Bret Lewis, in a Tuesday statement to Billboard. “I would add that the alleged conduct is not characteristic of the Jermaine Jackson/sun that I have known for years as his long-time attorney. We intend to vigorously defend these allegations.”

Barrett’s attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment.

Latin star Ricardo Montaner is suing Universal Music Group (UMG) over the ownership of his early album masters.

Montaner has brought lawsuits in both the U.S. and Venezuela, alleging UMG is refusing to revert the rights to his first five releases between 1986 and 1992: Ricardo Montaner, Ricardo Montaner 2, Un Toque de Misterio, En El Último Lugar del Mundo and Los Hijos del Sol. These albums include the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart-toppers “La Cima Del Cielo, “Castillo Azul” and “Piel Adentro.”

According to the U.S. lawsuit, filed on Sunday (June 29) and obtained by Billboard, Montaner recorded these albums under a deal with Venezuelan label Love Records. The label’s parent, Rodven Records, was later sold to PolyGram, which was then acquired by UMG.

Montaner alleges that UMG has not paid him “any royalties whatsoever” since taking control of his masters in 2001. The singer served a legal notice on the company in 2022 exercising his termination right — a provision of copyright law that allows authors to claw back intellectual property decades after signing it away.

Believing he owned his first five albums effective as of 2024, Montaner entered into an indie distribution deal with ADA Latin in 2025. But UMG is maintaining that Montaner’s termination notice was invalid, and it sent a notice to ADA this past April claiming it is still the owner of Montaner’s masters and demanding that the Warner Music Group (WMG) subsidiary cease all distribution.

Now, the singer is asking the courts to “declare that Montaner is the rightful owner of the albums and to enjoin defendants from interfering with plaintiffs’ right to exploit the albums in any way they choose.” He also wants financial damages from UMG.

“Although the full scope of harm caused by defendants’ wrongful claims of ownership over the albums is beyond calculation, the amount of calculable monetary damages to Plaintiffs as of the time of this filing is in excess of $1 million and continuing to accrue,” reads the U.S. lawsuit.

A rep for Montaner declined to comment beyond the legal filings on Tuesday (June 30). Back in 2024, the Argentine-Venezuelan musician spoke to Billboard about plans to re-record his early albums due in part to the fact that “contracts at that time were predatory and totally disadvantageous for the artist.”

“I didn’t earn a single penny for my music at the beginning of my career, and at the time when I was most successful, today I am looking to record independently so that my children will have, at least from now on, the peace of mind that the music of their father — especially the most important, the most emblematic or iconic music of his career — will pass into their hands,” Montaner said at the time. “I am also complaining to the people who have the original masters, the first masters of my career, considering they have been recorded already 40 years ago. I am asking that they return them to me.”

Reps for UMG and WMG did not immediately return requests for comment on Tuesday. WMG is not involved in the lawsuit nor accused of any wrongdoing.

Termination rights are a big topic on UMG’s legal docket these days. The company is currently litigating a closely watched dispute over the issue with Salt-N-Pepa, who filed a lawsuit last year seeking to claw back their masters from the late ’80s and early ’90s. UMG said the rappers have no termination rights because they did not actually sign their original record deal. A judge agreed in January and threw out the lawsuit, teeing up an appeal that remains ongoing.

Meanwhile, UMG recently joined forces with the other major record labels to challenge a novel court ruling that said termination rights can extend overseas. They petitioned the Supreme Court to take up the case earlier this month, writing that the “headscratching” and “startling” ruling would be “every bit as disruptive as it sounds” if adopted.

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has lost a U.K. court appeal to revive his challenge against PRS For Music’s “black box” royalty distribution on Monday (June 29).

The U.K.’s Court of Appeal has dismissed his appeal in his proposed class action against the nonprofit collection society. Rowntree’s proposed class action on behalf of PRS’ songwriter members is now dismissed.

Rowtree’s proposed suit was initially struck down by the Competition Appeal Tribunal in August 2025 by Lord Justice Miles. That ruling has now been upheld with the court finding that Rowntree had not put together a “counterfactual” method of distribution against which the society’s approach could be measured. Read the full ruling here.

The proposed suit criticized PRS’ so-called “black box” royalty distribution; PRS uses the term “unidentified royalties.” These royalties are sums that PRS collects but cannot match to the correct songwriter or publisher due to data that is missing or inaccurate.

These royalties are distributed on a pro rata distribution to its writer and publisher based on the same proportions as identified royalties. 

Rowntree argued that this favored publishers over songwriters and that the distribution method of a reported £200 million ($264 million) should be amended to ensure fairer payouts to its members.

The Court of Appeal has now ruled that “there is nothing inherently unfair about the pro rata distribution” of unallocated royalties, recognizing that the system operates with incomplete information.

In his original judgment in August 2025, Lord Justice Miles wrote, “the reason why no counterfactual has been advanced, even in general terms, is manifest: it is that the very data failure problem which has given rise to the black box royalties means that there is no plausible basis for suggesting a more accurate (let alone fairer) distribution.” This ruling was upheld by Lord Justice Zacaroli and Lord Justice Nugee.

A PRS for Music spokesperson said: “The Court of Appeal has once again recognised that this claim has no reasonable prospect of success and has upheld the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s earlier decision to strike it out, vindicating our longstanding position that this claim was never in the interests of PRS members.

“This class action was fundamentally flawed, and was a complete misrepresentation of our policies from the outset. It would have resulted in PRS members suing the society they collectively own, despite there being soaring costs attached and no logical basis for doing so.

“We welcome the decision and look forward to continuing to focus on our main priority which has always been, and remains, delivering value for our members and protecting their rights wherever and whenever their music is used.”

Rowntree has not yet commented on the ruling.

In 2025, PRS For Music paid out £1.24 billion ($1.6 billion) to songwriters, composers and publishers and represents the rights of more than 190,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers.

Beyoncé’s label and management company, Parkwood Entertainment, has defeated a copyright lawsuit over the EDM sample that opens her hit 2022 Renaissance track “Alien Superstar.”

A Friday (June 26) court ruling, first obtained and reported by Billboard, dismisses the lawsuit brought against Parkwood last summer by a company claiming to own the 1998 John Holiday song “Moonraker.” A sample of that track serves as the introduction to “Alien Superstar”: “Please do not be alarmed, remain calm/ Do not attempt to leave the dancefloor/ The DJ booth is conducting a troubleshoot of the entire system.”

Parkwood cleared this sample from Holiday; the house musician is listed in the lengthy Renaissance credits and was paid $10,000 plus 0.5% of the royalties from “Alien Superstar,” which hit No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. But in the July 2025 lawsuit, Florida-based Hirose Enterprises LLC alleged that it is actually the owner of the “Moonraker” copyrights and thus should have been part of that licensing process.

Hirose Enterprises LLC is owned by Shuji Hirose, the co-founder of now-defunct indie label Soundmen on Wax. The lawsuit claims Soundmen on Wax bought the “Moonraker” copyrights in 1998. Parkwood argued in response that there’s no paperwork documenting that purported transfer of rights, and thus it properly cleared the “Alien Superstar” sample from Holiday directly.

Judge Mark C. Scarsi did not need to address those arguments in order to dismiss the lawsuit on Friday, however. That’s because it turns out Hirose Enterprises was not actually formed until a week after the lawsuit was filed — a major legal defect that bars it from suing in the first place.

“Please do not be alarmed, remain calm: like the DJ booth referenced in the works at issue, this district judge must conduct a troubleshoot test of the entire system — that is, a jurisdictional inquiry — before reaching any of the parties’ merits arguments,” wrote the judge, quoting the “Moonraker” lyrics. “Plaintiff had no legal existence at the time it brought suit, so it cannot have held a stake in the outcome of the litigation at the time it filed the complaint.”

Judge Scarsi thus threw out the entire case against Parkwood, as well as Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell. Beyoncé herself was not targeted in the lawsuit.

Reps for the various litigants did not immediately return requests for comment on Monday (June 29). Hirose Enterprises has the right to appeal Friday’s dismissal ruling if it wants another chance at pursuing the copyright claims.

Fuerza Regida frontman Jesús Ortiz Paz (JOP) and Rancho Humilde CEO Jimmy Humilde are taking their legal battle from the courtroom to social media.

JOP and Humilde each posted fiery messages to Instagram on Sunday (June 28) expressing frustration about the ongoing litigation between Fuerza Regida and Rancho Humilde. For nearly a year, the música mexicana hitmakers and their longtime label home have been fighting in court over contract terms.

Fuerza Regida is trying to convince a federal judge to terminate the band’s record deal with Rancho Humilde, alleging that the label has withheld royalties and is now aiming to “sabotage” their success. Rancho Humilde, meanwhile, maintains that the record deal cannot be abandoned and that Fuerza Regida violated that contract by unilaterally doing features for other artists and excluding it from lucrative deals with Apple Music and Live Nation.

JOP’s Sunday post on Instagram alluded to this dispute, as well as to Fuerza Regida’s more recent allegation that Rancho Humilde wrongly blocked them from performing at this year’s FIFA World Cup and being included on Major League Baseball’s official soundtrack for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

“To everyone who supports Fuerza Regida: You deserve to hear our music,” wrote JOP. “You deserved to see us perform at the World Cup. You deserved to listen to us on the MLB album. You deserve to celebrate every release, every accomplishment, and every chapter of our journey. Instead, our music keeps disappearing.”

“We’ve never stopped making music, continued the bandleader’s post. “We’ve never stopped fighting for you. Everyone knows what’s going on; you seen it on the media. That’s why I’m going to let justice do its job. Everyone is going to know who you really are.”

JOP then wrote, “EL QUE NADA DEBE, NADA TEME” — a Spanish idiom meaning “he who has nothing to hide has nothing to fear” — and ended his post by specifically calling out Rancho Humilde and its CEO: “Go and let @jimmyhumilde.rh & @ranchohumilde know how you feel. Make your voices heard. Our story isn’t over I promise.”

Humilde responded the same day with a post of his own, addressed directly to JOP, arguing that the label always supported Fuerza Regida: “You asked me for a bigger deal I got it done. You asked me for your masters I fought to make it happen. You wanted to become one of the biggest artists in the world I gave everything I had to help build that dream. When you needed help, I didn’t just bring business. I brought my lawyers, my doctors, my relationships, my time, and my heart. I stood by you when it mattered most. You walked away with the biggest check of your life over $50 million. I never complained. I was happy to see you win because your success was our success.”

Humilde added, “What hurts is seeing everything we’ve built together reduced to a public narrative that doesn’t tell the whole story.” He then appealed to JOP to fulfill the band’s record deal, writing, “If you believe people deserve the truth, then honor the agreement we made. Complete the contract the same way I honored every commitment I made to you. I never stopped looking out for you. I only ask that you do the same. El que nada debe, nada teme.”

In a separate post on Sunday, Humilde also suggested that JOP has mistreated his bandmates and artists on his own label, Street Mob Records. In the post’s caption, he tagged Fuerza Regida bandmembers José García and Samuel Jaimez and Street Mob artists Chino Pacas, Calle 24 and Armenta.

“Let’s talk about your own band members went from partners to being employees,” wrote Humilde. “They didn’t have much of a choice. And let’s not forget I helped you land a $15 million deal for your label. After that, how you chose to take care of your artists is on you. [Let’s] ask Chinito, Calle and Armenta! I’ve kept my mouth shut out of loyalty, not because I can’t speak. Don’t mistake silence for weakness. Remember a man that sells his soul will never be able to help his own…don’t start lol.”

Rancho Humilde’s attorney, Michael Trauben, emphasized in a Monday (June 29) statement to Billboard that the label has never intended to prevent Fuerza Regida from making music. Rather, said Trauben, Rancho’s position in the lawsuit is that “those opportunities should proceed through the exclusive distribution and approval structure the parties voluntarily agreed upon.”

“Every exclusive agreement is built on one fundamental promise: if a company invests years of work and millions of dollars developing an artist, the artist agrees to release music through the agreed distribution channels,” added Trauben. “Rancho believes no artist — regardless of success — can simply decide to ignore that bargain and independently release recordings at will.”

Reps for Fuerza Regida did not return a request for comment on Monday.

The lawsuit remains in its early stages, with a judge currently weighing Rancho Humilde’s motion to dismiss some of Fuerza Regida’s claims at the outset. Once that decision comes down, the two sides will begin exchanging evidence in the discovery phase before an eventual trial — that is, if they don’t reach a settlement first.

As touring costs continue to skyrocket, experienced touring musicians Craig A. Meyer and Gary Arbuthnot have teamed up to launch GigLogic, a platform for artists to determine the financials of a show before accepting a gig.

GigLogic evaluates the price of commissions for management and booking agents, taxes, travel, lodging, and any other expenses that go into making a show happen, in an effort to allow artists and their teams to better budget and evaluate whether a show is worth traveling to.

“For decades, performers have been taught to focus on getting the gig,” Meyer says in a statement to Billboard. “Very few have been taught how to evaluate whether the gig is actually good business. As touring costs continue to rise, that’s becoming a much more important conversation. We built GigLogic because artists deserve the same level of financial visibility that businesses in other industries take for granted.”

Meyer comes in with 20 years of touring experience, having been on the road as an Elton John tribute performer in shows including Remember When Rock Was Young — The Elton John Experience and Piano Men: A Tribute to Elton John & Billy Joel. Arbuthnot has toured as a flautist.

On the platform, artists can input the details of a potential gig, after which GigLogic will build customized cost profiles and projected earnings. While artists and their teams often create budgets using spreadsheets and estimates, GigLogic says its platform helps to streamline the process.

“One of the biggest misconceptions in live entertainment is that a bigger paycheck automatically means a better opportunity,” Arbuthnot adds in a statement. “It doesn’t. An artist can be busier than ever, bringing in more revenue than ever, and still be struggling financially if they don’t understand their true costs. Sustainable careers are built on profitability, not just activity.”