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Millions of viewers from Latin America are expected to be glued to their TV sets tonight, as Mexico takes on Ecuador in a Round of 32 matchup at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The match takes place live from Mexico City Stadium with a kickoff time of 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. Current weather conditions are cloudy in Mexico City with a chance of rain, no doubt adding to the already tense atmosphere for the knockout game.

How to Watch Mexico vs. Ecuador World Cup Match on TV

You can watch the Mexico vs. Ecuador soccer game on TV on FOX or on Telemundo for a Spanish-language feed.

How to Watch Mexico vs. Ecuador World Cup Game Online Free

Don’t have cable? There are also ways to find a live feed of the Mexico vs. Ecuador game online, including ways to livestream the Round of 32 match for free.

Your MySports Genre Pack subscription also includes free access to ESPN and ESPN Unlimited for post-game analysis, highlights and more live sporting events. Not ready to commit? Test out DirecTV with a five-day free trial here and use it to watch Mexico vs. Ecuador live online free.

The package includes Spanish-language channels like Telemundo and Universo, that you can watch online without needing cable. Use this free trial to watch the World Cup match on Telemundo in Spanish for free.

Fubo comes with a five-day free trial, so you can try out the service before you commit to a monthly plan and livestream Mexico vs. Ecuador without paying. Fubo’s free trial includes free DVR so you can record tonight’s game to watch all your favorite moments back on-demand.

Pricing starts at $19.99/month but new users can get a three-day free trial here through Amazon Prime Video.

All of the above streaming services have been vetted and approved by our editors, and they all let you watch the Mexico vs. Ecuador soccer game on your computer, phone, tablet or TV.

Mexico vs. Ecuador Odds, Favorites

Mexico is currently ranked ninth in the latest FIFA rankings and El Tri are favored to win over the 24th-ranked Ecuadorians. Mexico advanced to the knockout rounds by winning Group A, while Ecuador placed third in Group E.

Watch tonight’s World Cup match online free with DirecTV here.

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.”

Over the weekend, Lupe Fiasco appeared on former battle rapper Breezy Nice’s YouTube page KoalaTeaReacts to discuss issues they’ve had in the past, when the discussion pivoted into a conversation about Kendrick Lamar.

The Chicago rapper has shared his opinion in the past about Lamar — opinions he thinks have been blown out of proportion by fans and the media — one of which is that he thinks he’s the better rapper.

“I find it crazy that you can’t even say that you think that you are a better rapper than Kendrick Lamar,” he said in astonishment before conceding that the Compton rapper is better in other areas.

“I’m not talking about album, I’m not talking about making songs, I’m not talking about being an artist. All the things that I’ve said all these years: He’s a better artist than me, he makes better albums, he has a better team, he has better beat selection, he has better production, right? He has all these better things, right? When it comes down to lyricism, when it comes down to these lyrics and putting these bar-for-bar-for-bar? No. Everything else? For sure. 100 percent.”

However, what’s been causing chatter in rap social media circles is that he said he can name “hundreds” of rappers better than Dot. This is because Lupe has said that battle rappers are better lyricists than mainstream rappers and can name a bunch that are better than most, including Kendrick. “I said it was hundreds and I’ll name ’em, and we could list them,” he doubled down. “We gonna just start listing n—as and then let’s see how long that list get before we start naming one n—a with a record deal? As the better rapper? Stop.”

Back in 2014, he made headlines after he claimed King Los, Logic and Cassidy were better rappers than Kendrick during an appearance on Hot 97. Fast forward to 2018, Fiasco took to Twitter and criticized the “Control” verse. “The only issue that the world thinks I have with K. Dot and I actually do is that I think his ‘Control’ verse was wack and super overhyped to be a verse claiming you are the best rapper,” he quote-tweeted a troll at the time who suggested Kendrick’s “Look Out for Detox” is better than every Lupe song ever. “It was very weird. I was told it was just bait, but still.”

He later apologized a couple of months later and said he’ll never talk about someone else’s career again. “Maybe I should have just left it alone. Even though my impetus was the ‘Control’ verse,” he said. “I mean you put yourself out there like that. So, you opened yourself up to critique, but even that still, I should have just shut my f—ing mouth. I apologize for even engaging and talking about n—as’ careers, I’ll never do that sh– again.”

You can watch the full convo below.

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.

As anticipation continues to build for Madonna’s Confessions II album, fans will be able to check it out sooner than expected.

The project is getting an early spotlight through a new partnership with iHeartRadio and TikTok, who are teaming up for an exclusive preview event ahead of the album’s Friday drop.

The “iHeartRadio and TikTok LIVE Premiere With Madonna” will air Thursday, giving audiences a global first listen one day before the album’s official release date. Fans will be able to follow along via @tiktok, @madonna and @iheartradio, while more than 200 iHeartRadio stations across the U.S. broadcast the experience.

According to a press release, the hour long stream will have Madonna, Bob the Drag Queen, longtime collaborator Stuart Price — who served as musical director and co-producer for the album, as well as the original Confessions project — and her daughter Lola Leon, who appears on the new track “The Test.” Instead of a standard interview setup, the format will use TikTok’s live tools, where viewers can engage with polls, custom reactions, Q&As and real-time audience prompts, turning the event into an interactive listening session.

Confessions II is Madonna’s 15th studio album and includes 16 songs, including collaborations with Sabrina Carpenter, Feid, Martin Garrix, Lola and Stromae. 

In April, Madonna released “I Feel So Free” as the first taste of the project. The song cemented the singer’s return to multiple Billboard charts, including Digital Song Sales, Hot Dance/Pop Songs and Dance/Mix Show Airplay, where it also reached No. 1 on Dance Digital Song Sales. Lead single “Bring Your Love” with Carpenter hit the Billboard Hot 100 as well as the top 10 of Hot Dance/Pop Songs, so far peaking at No. 7.

Earlier this month, Madonna offered an early glimpse at the project’s track list during the Tribeca Festival, where Confessions II —The Film debuted with six songs tied to the album: “I Feel So Free,” “Good for the Soul,” “One Step Away,” “Bring Your Love,” “Danceteria” and “Read My Lips.” The film is also now available on YouTube.

The “iHeartRadio and TikTok LIVE Premiere With Madonna” will air Thursday at 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT.

Political satire, but make it jazzy. Randy Rainbow is once again using the power of song to tear into Donald Trump, this time reimagining Cole Porter‘s classic “It’s De-Lovely” to say that he thinks the president is anything but.

The parody posted Tuesday (June 30) opens with the musical comedian portraying a news correspondent, editing clips of Trump from real interviews to make it look like the pair are having a conversation. After questioning the twice-impeached POTUS about his widely opposed handling of the Iran war, the setting shifts into a jazz club as Rainbow, wearing a retro tux, breaks into a song titled “He’s De-Mented.”

“This dumbf–k tyrant seems to be the tyrant-ithesis of sanity,” he croons to the tune of Porter’s famous melody. “His screws are loose, his tangents roam/ The lights are on but no one’s home/He’s defective, he’s destructive, he’s demented.”

Rainbow — who’s made countless viral song parodies making fun of the president — goes on to change the original song’s lyrics to take aim at Trump’s old age and “decrepit” appearance. “It’s clear that Grandpa’s off his pills,” the Internet personality sings. “He can hear that bipartisan fear/ They’re united left and right: He’s in decline/ Time to resign.”

The video comes after the politician’s approval rating for the second-to-last week of June was calculated at just 34%, according to Reuters. Many of Trump’s past supporters in the conservative commentary landscape have turned against him, taking issue specifically with his approach to the conflict in Iran. Two months ago, Trump threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran failed to agree to a ceasefire deal; at press time, the U.S. is still in slowly progressing peace talks with Iran.

Watch Rainbow’s new parody above.

Tems achieves her fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart as “What You Need” crowns the list dated July 4.

The single climbs from the runner-up spot, reflecting its status as the most-played song on panel-contributing mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations in the United States for the June 19-25 tracking week, according to Luminate.

“What You Need,” released and promoted through Since 93/RCA Records, takes the summit from Rick Ross, French Montana and Max B’s “Minks in Miami,” which slips to No. 5 after its week in charge.

With the new champ, Tems claims a fourth Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay No. 1. She first topped the list in a featured role on Wizkid’s “Essence,” a 10-week leader in 2021, and followed with a pair of chart-toppers in 2022: First, when she and Drake guested on Future’s “Wait for U,” which coasted to a then-record 16 frames in charge, and via her own “Free Mind” and its two-week reign.

Elsewhere, “What You Need” improves 23-16 on the Adult R&B Airplay chart, winning the Greatest Gainer honor as the song with the biggest increase in plays for the week. Thanks to its might at the mainstream R&B/hip-hop and adult R&B formats, the track holds at No. 3 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from both formats. There, despite no rank change, “What You Need” gained 12% in weekly audience, to 13.1 million for the latest tracking week.

The joint improvements, in turn, fuel the song’s ascent on the all-genre Radio Songs chart, where it rises 39-32 with 16 million in audience (up 12%).

In addition to “What You Need,” Tems enjoys a second rising title in the radio world, “Raindance,” a collaboration with Dave. The teamup lifts 7-6 on Rap Airplay, 9-8 on Rhythmic Airplay, 17-14 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, 17-16 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, and 43-37 on Radio Songs.

“What You Need” is from Tems’ latest EP, Love is a Kingdom, which was released in November 2025.

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.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony is headed to “Tha Crossroads” of Hollywood Boulevard on the 8th of next month. The legendary Cleveland-bred rap group is set to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the ceremony is slated for July 8.

Radio icon Big Boy will emcee the event alongside Xzibit, who will also speak at the ceremony, which will be livestreamed July 8 at 11:30 a.m. PT.

“Receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is a blessing beyond words. Coming from Cleveland, we never imagined that the music we created would touch so many lives around the world,” Bone Thugs said in a statement. “This honor belongs not only to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, but to our families, our city, our fans, and everyone who believed in us from the beginning.”

The group continued: “More than three decades later, we’re still here, still creating, and still carrying the legacy forward. We thank the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for this incredible recognition and dedicate this star to the generations who continue to keep our music alive.”

Bone Thugs founding member Krayzie Bone hopped on social media to show his appreciation to the fans for still supporting the crew over three decades later. “After all these years, we’re officially receiving our star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,” he wrote to IG. “This is bigger than us this is for the fans, the family, and everyone who’s been rocking with Bone since day one.”

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Bone Thugs-N-Harmony put Cleveland hip-hop on the map as the group rose to prominence in the mid-’90s after signing to Eazy E’s Ruthless Records. The crew ushered in a mix of rapping with singing to hip-hop’s mainstream, and Bone Thugs came in at No. 21 on Billboard‘s 50 Greatest Rap Groups of All Time list.

Bone Thugs released a pair of albums that topped the Billboard 200 with 1995’s E. 1999 Eternal and 1997’s The Art of War. They boast a trio of top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits, including “I Tried” featuring Akon, “Look Into My Eyes” and “Tha Crossroads,” which held the No. 1 slot for eight weeks in 1996.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony will hit the road in July for a handful of shows and then join the Wu-Tang Clan’s The Final Chamber Tour in August.

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.