The members of rock band Lit have reached a settlement to end an $800,000 lawsuit against Sony Music over streaming royalties for their ’90s catalog.

A Tuesday (July 7) court filing, first obtained and reported by Billboard, says Sony has agreed on a “settlement in principle” with Lit frontman A. Jay Popoff, guitarist Jeremy Popoff, bassist Kevin Baldes and the estate of late drummer Allen Shellenberger. The band is best known for the hit 1999 single “My Own Worst Enemy,” which spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart and has more than 500 million streams on Spotify.

A written settlement agreement is currently in the process of being finalized. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, and reps for Lit and Sony did not immediately return requests for comment on the resolution.

The members of Lit sued Sony in March, seeking a greater share of their streaming royalties. The major music company, whose subsidiary RCA Records signed Lit in 1998, had up until then been paying the musicians a basic 14% U.S. recorded royalty rate for plays on Spotify and other digital streamers.

However, Lit argued it was entitled to more because of a clause in the band’s 1998 record deal with RCA that allocates the band 50% of net proceeds from master use licenses of its music. In a parenthetical, the contract says an example of this would be “RCA’s license to another person of the right to embody a master recording on a website in a so-called ‘streaming’ format, which is not subject to the ‘digital download’ of that master recording by a viewer.”

It’s not clear how this clause made it into Lit’s record deal, since music streaming was still in its most nascent stage in 1998; MP3s were only invented in 1993, and the first mainstream streaming platforms like PressPlay and Rhapsody didn’t launch until the early 2000s. Even Napster, which hosted music downloading rather than streaming, didn’t arrive until 1999.

Lit’s members claimed that this anomalous contract language entitled them to $800,000 in allegedly underpaid streaming royalties. According to the lawsuit, the band tried to negotiate a more favorable split before going to court, but Sony offered “a half-hearted defense” of the traditional royalty rate and then stopped responding entirely.

In May, a lawyer for Sony said in a court filing that the band “commenced settlement discussions” after the lawsuit was filed. A judge closed the case following notification of the deal on Tuesday.

As Warner Music Group (WMG) begins to integrate distributor Revelator after acquiring it earlier this year, the company announced that it’s expanding Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA), the company’s independent and label services division, in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Along with the expansion, WMG announced that Howard Corner will take on the newly created role of head of ADA, EMEA.

Corner has led ADA UK since 2013 and will remain in his current position of managing director of the division following the expansion. He reports to Simon Robson, president of recorded music, EMEA, and is based out of the company’s London offices.

“The EMEA landscape is teeming with brilliant independent talent and entrepreneurial labels looking for a partner that can scale their vision globally without sacrificing local agility,” Corner said in a statement. “I’m incredibly excited to step into this regional role and work alongside our exceptional territory heads to elevate ADA’s offering. By integrating Revelator’s game-changing technology and officially welcoming ADA x Africori and ADA x Qanawat Music into the family, we’re creating an unmatched, tech-driven partner for the independent community.”

Israel-based Revelator was founded in 2012 by CEO Bruno Guez; the company also has a significant presence in Asia. WMG said it intends to use the company’s technology for all of its labels and ADA. Fully integrating that technology will likely take years.

Major labels have increasingly looked to acquire indie distributors, whose market share has grown in recent years. In February, Universal finalized its acquisition of Downtown Music for $775 million, while WMG acquired Revelator in April after seeking to acquire a distribution company for two years. It had previously looked into acquiring Believe and also considered building a distributor of its own before backing away from both. Back in 2015, Sony Music completed its buyout of The Orchard, the current market share leader among distributors in the U.S.

“To supercharge the momentum of our artist and label services business, we’re bringing in a seasoned leader who deeply understands the nuances of the indie ecosystem,” Robson said of Corner’s new role. “Howard’s proven track record, fierce commercial drive and profound respect for independent music culture make him the ideal exec to support our local teams and drive regional growth. Armed with Revelator’s cutting-edge platform, Howard and the team are perfectly positioned to redefine what a global music partner can look like.”

Ed Sheeran will sign a record deal with Interscope, sources have confirmed with Billboard. The news comes after Sheeran announced in May that he had left his longtime label home, Warner Music Group (WMG).

Sheeran signed with Asylum/Atlantic U.K. A&R Ed Howard in 2011. Shortly after that, he rose to fame with the release of his 2011 debut album, +, which was certified three-times platinum by the RIAA. His sophomore set, x, was an even bigger seller thanks to the success of singles like “Thinking Out Loud,” “Don’t” and “Photograph,” all of which hit the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. He continued a string of chart successes with subsequent releases, scoring a total of eight top five albums on the Billboard 200, including four No. 1s. He’s also scored a total of nine top 10 singles on the Hot 100, including two No. 1s: “Shape of You” and “Perfect,” both released in 2017.

“I’ve decided to leave Asylum/Warner last month. I leave the company with SO much love and gratitude for everything we have achieved together,” Sheeran said in announcing his exit from WMG. “This isn’t a ‘disgruntled artist leaves record label’ type situation. This is a boy who started as a teenager on the company with different priorities, to the father of 2 man who exists now, who feels like he needs a shift and change in the way he does things professionally.”

WMG will hold onto Sheeran’s catalog of hits and has long-term licenses for his two most recent albums, Autumn Variations and Play, both of which were jointly released on Sheeran’s own label, Gingerbread Man, and Atlantic.

Interscope did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s request for comment. The Hollywood Reporter was first to report the news.

On Tuesday (July 7), Primary Wave officially passed all relevant regulatory scrutiny and closed its acquisition of Kobalt, Billboard has confirmed. The deal is estimated to be worth more than $1.5 billion.

The possibility of the deal was first reported by Billboard in February. At the time, it was estimated that if Primary Wave and Kobalt were to go through with it, the combined companies would be worth $7 billion in assets. By March 23, a press release announced that Primary Wave’s acquisition was officially happening and would include Kobalt’s worldwide operations, its catalog of copyrights and digital collection society AMRA.

Under the new ownership of Primary Wave, the two companies will continue to operate as standalone firms. Kobalt will retain CEO Laurent Hubert as its leader.

Primary Wave and Kobalt are both indie music giants in their own right, but the two have different focuses. Primary Wave is focused on big-name catalog acquisitions, with a portfolio containing stakes in catalogs from Prince, Whitney Houston, James Brown, Stevie Nicks, Luther Vandross, Bob Marley, Britney Spears and Jackson Brown. Kobalt has a different approach, focusing on offering a large roster of current songwriting talent with publishing administration aid and help collecting royalties, among other services, for signees like Phoebe Bridgers, Panic! At the Disco, Childish Gambino, Bon Iver, Kali Uchis, Paul McCartney and more.

Kobalt often ranks on Billboard’s Publishers’ Quarterly list as the largest independent music publisher by market share. In 2022, it was acquired by a group of investors led by Francisco Partners (which held a controlling 90% interest) in a deal that valued the company at around $750 million. Since then, the company has continued to grow its roster and improve profits. In recent years, Kobalt launched KOSIGN, its solution for young songwriters looking for flexible deal terms, and launched a joint venture with Morgan Stanley’s Tactical Value group with $700 million to invest in music copyrights.

While Primary Wave has ownership in an enviable catalog of hit songs, it’s historically been dependent on other publishers — including but not limited to Kobalt — to handle publishing administration. Sometimes, when Primary Wave acquires a catalog, the songs will be tied up in other incomplete publishing deals. For those catalogs that are free to move publishers, Primary Wave often assigns their administration, with songwriter consent, to Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), sources say.

Now, Primary Wave has administration services at the ready in-house. It now also owns Kobalt’s AMRA, the global music collection organization that collects mechanical and performance royalties directly from digital services providers, which could help Primary Wave cut down on fees paid to local societies and subpublishers.

Record label GTS and Telemundo have entered a strategic alliance around Operación Triunfo Estados Unidos, the U.S. adaptation of the long-running Spanish music competition franchise, which premieres Tuesday (July 7) at 7 p.m. ET. Under the agreement, GTS will have a preferential right to sign artists emerging from the program and will also participate in the development of a potential concert tour.

“It is a source of pride — and a responsibility — for GTS to take part in the first edition of Operación Triunfo Estados Unidos alongside Telemundo,” Narcís Rebollo, CEO and president of GTS, said in a statement. “This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the format’s creation, whose development I had the opportunity to be part of from the very beginning, both in management and on the record label side, together with its creators, José María Mainat, Toni Cruz and Joan Ramon Mainat, achieving historic results for television, the recording industry and artist management from Spain.”

He continued, “I am convinced that we will discover great new talent in this first U.S. edition, and we will devote all our effort and professionalism to making that possible once again.”

Javier Pons, chief content officer and head of Telemundo Studios, added: “We are thrilled to join forces with GTS on the first edition of Operación Triunfo in the United States. This alliance allows us not only to discover and train a new generation of Latino talent in the country, representative of diverse nationalities, but also to help drive their careers beyond the program, giving them real opportunities for artistic development and visibility in the music industry.”

The deal further strengthens GTS’ position in discovery, development and international projection of Latin talent, while giving Telemundo an industry partner to help extend the show’s impact beyond the screen.

The arrival of Operación Triunfo in the U.S. marks a new chapter for one of Spanish-language entertainment’s most influential music franchises. Since launching in Spain in 2001, the format has helped introduce artists including David Bisbal, David Bustamante, Pablo López, Amaia, Aitana, Lola Índigo, Juanjo Bona and Chiara Oliver.

A new lawsuit alleges the hit 2023 NewJeans song “ETA” stole multiple elements from an instrumental dance track released nearly two decades earlier.

The Tuesday (July 7) legal complaint, first obtained and reported by Billboard, levels copyright infringement claims against NewJeans members Minji, Hanni, Haerin, Hyein and Danielle, as well as their label ADOR and parent company HYBE. The lawsuit also names various writers, producers and companies involved in the creation and distribution of “ETA,” which was part of NewJeans’ chart-topping EP Get Up and hit No. 4 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. Songs chart in August 2023.

A company called All Surface Publishing is claiming that “ETA” lifts instrumentals from “Samir’s Theme,” a 2005 dance track by the producer DJ Debonair Samir. Specifically, the lawsuit says both songs feature the same syncopated melodic horns, bass drums and rhythmic structures.

“Defendants, and each of them, included a combination of elements in ‘ETA’s’ musical composition (and sound recording embodying that composition) that is strikingly and/or substantially similar, and indeed virtually identical, to an original combination of elements from ‘Samir’s Theme’ without a license from or compensation to All Surface,” reads the complaint.

Multiple music critics pointed out the similarities between the two songs when NewJeans released Get Up in 2023. Pitchfork wrote that “ETA” “takes horns from the Baltimore club classic ‘Samir’s Theme,’” and Paste said the song features “a blaring horn line lifted from the quintessential 2000s Baltimore club track ‘Samir’s Theme.’”

All Surface says it sent a cease-and-desist letter to the various defendants last month, but no resolution was reached. The publisher is now seeking unspecified financial damages, including a portion of the “significant revenue and profits” generated by “ETA.”

Reps for HYBE and ADOR did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit.

This is not the first time All Surface has brought copyright infringement litigation over “Samir’s Theme.” In 2024, the publisher sued Pitbull’s label, Mr. 305 Inc., for allegedly copying the track on his 2021 dance hit “I Feel Good.” That case ended in a settlement last year.

NewJeans, meanwhile, was hit with a different copyright lawsuit two months ago claiming its 2024 song “How Sweet” used elements from a songwriting demo without compensation. ADOR denied those claims in a statement to Billboard, saying “no form of copying or infringement took place.”

The group and its label home have been embroiled in an internal legal battle of their own over the last several years. In 2024, all five original members attempted to sever ties with ADOR and go independent under the new moniker NJZ following the controversial firing of CEO Min Hee-jin. This led to a lawsuit, and ADOR ultimately prevailed when a South Korean court ruled in October that the women must remain under an exclusive contract until 2029.

In the wake of that ruling, Hanni, Haerin and Hyein all decided to return to ADOR and resume working with the label. Minji is still deciding whether to do the same. Danielle will not be part of NewJeans’ future; she was formally dropped from the group in December and is now facing further legal action from ADOR over her role in the attempted breakaway.

Zara Larsson has signed with RCA Records, a source confirmed withBillboard. The singer-songwriter was previously with Epic Records, her label home for more than a decade.

The signing was first reported by Hits Daily Double.

Larsson, a native of Sweden, has released a total of five studio albums, including her debut, 1, in 2014 when she was just 16. But she scored a major breakout beginning last fall, when her verse on the remix of PinkPantheress’ “Stateside” caught fire and eventually landed at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200.

Meanwhile, her 2016 single “Lush Life” went viral on TikTok, pushing the song back onto the Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 35. The renewed interest around the singer’s catalog pushed “Midnight Sun,” the title track from her 2025 album, into the upper reaches of the Hot 100, where it hit a new peak of No. 19 on the chart dated July 4. Last month, the song also landed at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Pop Airplay chart, where it has remained for 23 weeks.

In the wake of this burst of success, Larsson was named Billboard‘s Women in Music Breakthrough for 2026.

“I think this year cemented me as not only a girl with popular songs,” Larsson said in an April interview with Billboard, “but a girl worth talking about in pop culture.”

Larsson released the remix album Midnight Sun: Girls Trip in May.

RCA did not immediately respond to a request for comment/confirmation on the signing.

Alexi Cory-Smith, co-founder and CEO of London-based catalog firm Bella Figura Music, and formerly an executive at BMG’s U.K. division, has died. She was 58.

“We are devastated to announce the sudden and unexpected passing of our co-founder and CEO, Alexi Cory-Smith,” said a statement released on Friday (July 3) by Bella Figura, who manages the rights of evergreen hits like Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” and The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me.”

“Alexi built Bella Figura Music from the ground up, bringing the vision and passion from a successful career in the music industry. Her leadership, creativity, and unwavering commitment to our team and our work leaves a lasting legacy,” the firm said in remembrance of Cory-Smith.

“Our thoughts are with Alexi’s family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time,” the statement continued. “We ask that their privacy be respected. We are committed to honouring Alexi’s vision and achievements and will share further updates when we are able. In the meantime, our focus is on supporting one another and remembering an extraordinary leader who meant so much to all of us.”

In a statement sent to Billboard, BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) CEO Jo Twist said, “We are profoundly saddened to learn of the passing of Alexi Cory-Smith.  She made a highly valued contribution as a leading figure in our music industry, including as BPI Council member when representing BMG, and we extend our sincere condolences to her family, friends and colleagues on their great loss.”

Cory-Smith opened the doors of Bella Figura in 2022 alongside longtime colleague Neelesh Prabhu.

“For us, it’s quality, class, it’s successful, it’s curatable. I began Bella Figura with a very simple thing: I wanted to own my own publishing company,” Cory-Smith said in an interview on The Money Trench podcast, speaking of her turn to entrepreneurship after accumulating years of professional experience across major labels.

Of putting everything into Bella Figura, she noted, “It’s the best thing I ever did in my life, personally, selfishly and professionally. I love this business … It’s learning and doing and making mistakes all at the same time, but it’s fantastic. It’s the thing I’m proudest of. It’s the thing, I love it, I get up every day super excited.”

As of 2025, Bella Figura had accumulated a portfolio worth more than $160 million. The London-based firm made a push into the U.S. market, bringing on industry vet Gary Gersh as chairman and to open an office in Los Angeles last year.

An acquisition of producer/songwriter Paul Epworth’s publishing catalog in April 2026 added more major hits to the firm’s growing collection — including co-writes and productions from Adele’s 21 (“Rolling in the Deep”) and the James Bond theme “Skyfall,” and his work from Florence + The Machine’s Lungs and Ceremonials albums. “For us, acquiring Paul’s catalog defines what Bella Figura was built to do,” Cory-Smith said at the time. “His body of work speaks for itself. Songs that have moved hundreds of millions of people and stand the test of time.”

Before launching Bella Figura, Cory-Smith held notable leadership roles at BMG U.K. over the course of several years — last serving as president, repertoire and marketing, at the time of her departure from the company in 2017. There, she led the label’s publishing and recordings business, spearheading relationships with key artists including the Rolling Stones and Roger Waters.

“The Rolling Stones deal — well, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards specifically, because it was about them as writers and the songs — that was for me, a turning point. Very distinctly,” she said in her appearance on The Money Trench, recounting a milestone professional accomplishment.

Prior to BMG, she worked at Virgin, EMI and more, after moving her way up from being what she humbly described as “basically office junior, girl Friday, do it all” at her first job in the business, at IRS Records.

Unaware of the opportunities that she’d one day make for herself in the music industry, she originally thought she’d be a criminal lawyer. “I was going to save the innocent man from the establishment,” she recalled on The Money Trench. Though criminal law wasn’t her calling, she found she loved the work of making a deal and did pursue a law degree she’d apply to her career in music, before delving into learning and becoming an expert in the publishing business.

“It was worth every second and every penny and every tear,” she said of the work she and her team have put into continuously building Bella Figura. “I don’t regret a second, but it wasn’t easy.”

“I’d like it to go and go,” she said of her vision of her firm’s future.

Disgraced British glam rock star Gary Glitter has been charged with additional counts of child sexual abuse in the U.K.

The 82-year-old “Rock and Roll” singer (real name Paul Gadd) has repeatedly been convicted of pedophilia and is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence in England for sexually abusing three young girls in the 1970s. On Thursday (July 2), London’s Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service accused him of abusing a fourth girl under the age of 13 during that same period at a home in Kensington.

“This follows allegations made by a woman relating to a period of alleged abuse that took place between 1978 and 1981,” said lead prosecutor Bethan David in a public announcement. “Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring this case to court and that it is in the public interest to do so.”

Glitter is charged in this new case with one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a child and three counts of indecent assault. Police say the victim reported the alleged crimes in January 2025 and that Glitter was interviewed as part of their lengthy investigation before charges were filed.

The former pop star is set to appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court to address the charges on Aug. 5. He could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.

Glitter has been a convicted sex offender since 1999, when he pled guilty in the U.K. to possessing child sexual abuse material. In 2006, he was sentenced to three years in a Vietnamese prison for sexually abusing two girls aged 10 and 11 in the country.

The singer was then arrested again in London in 2012 as part of “Operation Yewtree,” a massive U.K. probe into historical child sex abuse that stemmed from allegations against late BBC television host Jimmy Savile. Glitter was convicted in 2015 of abusing three young girls and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

He was initially granted probation after serving half the sentence in 2023, but returned to jail within a month after breaching the terms of his release. He remains incarcerated at Channings Wood Prison in Devon, England.

A federal judge is refusing to decide whether reggaeton duo Steely & Clevie invented the genre’s signature dembow rhythm, ruling that only a jury can make that conclusion in a sprawling copyright lawsuit targeting Bad Bunny, Karol G and more than a hundred other artists.

Judge André Birotte Jr. dropped a long-awaited summary judgment ruling on Thursday (July 2) in the long-running case alleging that nearly 2,000 tracks by more than 150 artists copied Steely & Clevie’s 1989 song “Fish Market.” In this first phase of the litigation, Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and the heirs of Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson asked the judge to determine that “Fish Market” was indeed the original, copyrightable source of dembow — the boom-ch-boom-chick percussion that’s now a hallmark of reggaeton.

Lawyers representing the many defendants — including Pitbull, Drake, Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi and Justin Bieber, plus units of all three major music companies — countered that Steely & Clevie have no valid copyright claim because this sonic element “exists in countless prior works and musical genres,” including the centuries-old habanera rhythm.

Thursday’s ruling, first obtained and reported by Billboard, essentially kicks the can down the road on the dispute. Judge Birotte said both sides have built credible cases that conflict directly with each other, meaning a jury trial is the only proper method to decide whether “Fish Market” is copyrightable as the origin of dembow.

“The evidentiary record presents competing, facially credible expert opinions regarding what elements exist in the claimed works, how those elements function musically, whether they are commonplace or original, and whether they form a coherent and protectable selection and arrangement,” wrote the judge. “Virtually none of these facts fall into the undisputed category that the court may consider on a motion for summary judgment. Put simply, plaintiffs’ experts advance one account of the relevant musical features and their significance, while defendants’ experts offer a fundamentally different interpretation of those same features. These are classic disputes of fact, not law.”

Now, the lawsuit will head to a second phase of discovery on the question of infringement — that is, whether there’s evidence that more than 150 defendants in the case had access to “Fish Market” and did indeed copy it for the various songs at issue, including chart-toppers like “Despacito”, “Tití Me Preguntó” and “Dame Tu Cosita.” Further briefing and a potential jury trial will follow unless the many litigants can all agree on a settlement.

A lawyer for Steely & Clevie, Stephen Doniger, told Billboard in a Thursday statement, “We are pleased that the court largely rejected the defendants’ arguments but disappointed that it did not grant our client’s affirmative summary judgment motion.”

“It is hard to imagine how any jury could find the Dem Bow Riddim to be anything other than an original and protectable work given the undisputed evidence that it is made up of seven discrete elements combined in a way that no one has found in any work predating our clients’ ‘Fish Market,’” added Doniger. “That said, we have little doubt that a jury will see through [the defendants’] arguments and we look forward to the next steps in this case.” 

The legal team representing the majority of defendants in the case did not immediately return a request for comment.

The dembow case is a big deal because of its sheer scope, with hundreds of millions of dollars in potential damages at stake. Experts have also warned that it could have an immensely disruptive impact on reggaeton — a booming genre that has risen alongside Bad Bunny from the clubs of Puerto Rico to the stages of the Grammys and the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Back in 2023, Duke University law professor Jennifer Jenkins told Billboard that a win for Steely & Clevie “would confer a monopoly over an entire genre, something unprecedented in music copyright litigation.”