Bruno Mars makes a comeback to the Billboard Latin charts with “Lo Arriesgo Todo,” the Spanish-language version of his latest single “Risk It All.”

The track, his first Spanish-language studio recording, was released May 8 on Atlantic Records. “Lo Arriesgo Todo” debuts at No. 20 on the Hot Latin Songs chart, claims the No. 1 spot on both the Hot Latin Pop Songs and Latin Digital Songs Sales charts, and bows at No. 6 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart (dated May 23).

“Risk It All” was issued in its original English version on Mars’ The Romantic album, released on Feb. 27.

Meanwhile, “Risk It All” — combining all versions of the song, both English and Spanish — re-enters the top 10 on the overall Billboard Hot 100 chart (rising 15-8), climbs 11-9 on the all-format Radio Songs ranking and 5-3 on the Adult R&B Airplay chart and holds at its No. 9 high on Pop Airplay. Following the Hot 100 No. 1 hit “I Just Might,” “Risk It All” is the second single from The Romantic, which gave him his second chart-topper on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart in March.

On the Hot Latin Songs chart — which incorporates streams, airplay and sales of the Spanish version of the track into its formula — “Lo Arriesgo Todo” debuts at No. 20, fueled by activity across all three metrics. According to Luminate, in the week ending May 14 in the United States, the track generated 1.6 million official streams, earned 1.9 million airplay audience impressions and sold 1,000 downloads. The latter yields Mars’ first entry, and No. 1, on Latin Digital Song Sales.

The debut marks a notable return to the chart for Mars after a decade and secures his highest-charting entry to date. His previous peak arrived through his featured role on Bad Meets Evil’s “Lighters,” which climbed to No. 22 in 2011. Plus, “Lo Arriesgo Todo” becomes his first and only Spanish-language track among his seven career entries on Hot Latin Songs. Before October 2012, the chart was solely based on radio airplay, prior to its evolution into a multimetric system combining streams, airplay and sales.

On the Latin Pop Airplay chart, the No. 6 start for “Lo Arriesgo Todo” marks Mars’ second top 10, following his featured turn on Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk,” which peaked at No. 8 in 2015.

Chance the Rapper took the stage at the Gordon Parks Foundation Annual Awards in NYC on Tuesday night (May 19) and delivered a stirring tribute performance to Muhammad Ali with “I Was a Rock.”

It was a star-studded night at Cipriani 42nd Street celebrating the foundation’s 20th anniversary and the life of the legendary photographer and civil rights activist Gordon Parks, who died in 2006.

Parks was one of the leading photojournalists narrating the Black experience in America starting in the 1940s and continued to publish until his death.

Chano was joined by Anthony Morgan’s Inspirational Choir of Harlem for a soulful performance, which included audio from a famed Ali interview in 1977 outlining his philanthropic plans for the future. He previously performed “I Was a Rock” in dedication to the boxing and social justice icon at the 2016 ESPY Awards.

“To be recognized in a space honoring Gordon Parks and Muhammad Ali is humbling. They told the truth through their work, and that’s always been the goal of mine too,” Chance told Billboard in April ahead of the event. “The tribute to Ali is really about honoring that spirit and showing gratitude to his legacy.”

The 20th-anniversary awards dinner and auction brought together various dignitaries with music, social justice, art and philanthropy.

Former NFL quarterback and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick was a presenter, while Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz served on a committee of co-chairs for the evening. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was also present.

“We are so honored to be here continuously celebrating the legacy of Gordon Parks. He was a
Renaissance Man. No starts, no stops, just endless beginnings.” Alicia Keys said on stage after being presented with an original portrait of Parks.

John Legend was among the honorees for the night and Pharrell was fittingly called on as a presenter to welcome the singer to the stage. “In trying times like these, I feel a great sense of responsibility,” Legend said. “This award is a challenge for me and for us to get to work. Gordon Parks knew how to get to work, and he understood that seeing clearly was necessary for justice.”

According to a press release, the Gordon Parks Foundation raised $3 million through the awards dinner and auction to help advance the foundation’s causes.

Launched by Gordon Parks and Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr. in 2006, the Gordon Parks Foundation honors the legacy of the social justice efforts by Parks as a groundbreaking photojournalist with various educational and artistic initiatives. Fellowships and scholarships support students along with emerging artists and writers through the Gordon Parks Arts and Social Justice Fund, which was created in 2019.

An updated version of the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on Wednesday (May 20) with a wide coalition of music industry support, including from the three major music companies, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Recording Academy and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA).

The bill, which aims to establish federal rights around likeness for individuals portrayed in digital deepfakes, was first introduced in 2024. While it has maintained steadfast support within the music industry ever since, including a co-sign from country star Randy Travis last year, it has also increasingly gained the support of the tech giants. Last year, OpenAI, Google and IBM announced their support of the bill, and now, with this latest reintroduction, Spotify and Getty are signing on as well.

Some critics, however, have warned that such legislation is too aggressive and could hamper free speech. By granting people a broad new way to sue over the use of their likenesses on the internet — existing state laws are more limited, covering only commercial exploitation — opponents of previous versions of the NO FAKES Act have warned that it could force online platforms to self-censor and remove too much content out of fear of legal liability.

The bill’s authors say they’ve avoided those pitfalls with the latest version, which they say has “carefully calibrated exceptions” aimed at ensuring “open discourse,” including explicit carve-outs for news coverage, biopics and criticism. There is also protection from liability for libraries and similar organizations.

The other updates to the bill are to ensure that the enforcement mechanisms work for a wide variety of platforms — whether it’s a user-generated platform, like YouTube, or a more curated one, like Spotify. Now, the way disputes are processed and enforced will be tailored to what kind of platform the issue occurs on. For a site that relies on user-generated content, it offers a “safe harbor,” meaning the platform will not be held liable for a user’s deepfake upload to its site as long as it follows the rules and takes down the content when it’s alerted to it. The updated bill also now allows for challenges to incorrect takedown notices.

The goal of NO FAKES is to provide nationwide protection over one’s voice and likeness in the case of “digital replicas,” which include — but are not limited to — deepfakes created by artificial intelligence. This is an increasingly pressing issue for the music industry, as artists, including Taylor Swift — who recently applied for new trademarks on the sound of her voice, a move seemingly designed to combat deepfakes — face issues with the dissemination of images and songs that contain AI recreations of themselves.

Currently, artists’ only protection against AI deepfakes is from some states’ right of publicity laws, which vary widely in the level of protection they provide. Some states, like Tennessee, have updated their publicity rights laws to cover issues specific to the AI age, but many have not. NO FAKES’ proponents believe the bill could create a baseline level of protection for all citizens.

The NO FAKES Act was first introduced as a draft bill in 2023 and formally introduced to the Senate in the summer of 2024. Other music industry supporters include CAA, BMI, American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), Academy of Country Music, Human Artistry Campaign, Music Artists Coalition, American Federation of Musicians (AFM), ASCAP, SAG-AFTRA, SESAC, Songwriters of North America (SONA), Sound Exchange, Christian Music Trade Association, Folk Alliance International and more.

Additional reporting by Bill Donahue.

Snoop Dogg says in new court filings that his company was not in charge of the Los Angeles hip-hop festival where Drakeo the Ruler was fatally stabbed in 2021.

The argument came in a series of Tuesday (May 19) motions that seek to throw out wrongful death claims brought against Snoop’s company, Snoop Dogg’s LLC (SDLLC), over Drakeo’s killing. The rapper (born Darrell Caldwell) died of stab wounds after being attacked by a large group backstage at the Once Upon a Time in LA festival in December 2021.

Drakeo’s family members later filed multiple negligence lawsuits alleging that various companies involved with Once Upon a Time in LA, including Live Nation and C3 Presents, were to blame for his death because they provided insufficient security at the event. Two of these lawsuits, brought by Drakeo’s mother and brother, claim SDLLC also holds some liability because it helped organize and promote the festival.

Snoop himself expressly denies this in his Tuesday declarations to the court. The rapper (Calvin Broadus Jr.), the controlling member of SDLLC, says in the filings that his company “had no role in management of the festival” and “did not supervise security personnel.”

Lawyers for SDLLC elaborate on this in accompanying legal memos, arguing that Snoop’s only written contract with Once Upon a Time in LA was a $500,000 performance agreement for the star’s one-hour set. According to the attorneys, that contract “does not require the artist to control the premises or manage the event.”

“The subject incident video itself confirms SDLLC’s lack of involvement,” read the memos. “The evidence shows that no employee, agent or representative of SDLLC was present at the backstage area at the time of the altercation.”

SDLLC is asking a judge to enter a summary judgment order permanently ending its involvement in the litigation. Lawyers for Drakeo’s mother and brother did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday (May 20). They will likely respond to the summary judgment request in writing in the coming months.

If the allegations survive summary judgment, they’ll be part of a larger trial scheduled to begin this September on all the claims brought by Drakeo’s mother, brother and son over his death. In addition to SDLLC, the defendants include industry giant Live Nation and other concert promoters and security personnel from the festival. (Live Nation has denied any wrongdoing, saying Drakeo’s death was “unforeseeable.”)

The lawsuits also initially targeted the operators of BMO Stadium, which hosted parts of Once Upon a Time in LA. Judge James I. Montgomery threw out those claims earlier this month, however, ruling that Drakeo’s death occurred in a different section of the festival grounds not owned by the stadium.

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. 
 
This week: Drake’s biggest Iceman hit changes hands day-to-day, Yung Miami has a breakout solo hit, Noah Kahan’s blockbuster new album has a viral bonus cut and more.

‘Janice STFU’ Takes Over as Drake’s Top Iceman Song

Drake has obviously been the story of the streaming world this week, as his triple-release of new albums — Iceman, Maid of Honour and Habibti — has been setting all sorts of first-day and first-week marks on DSPs, and generally taking over discussion, as fans debate the merits of the albums and the strategy behind them. But while fans ingest the three albums and the combined 43 tracks between them, one song has begun to separate from the pack as the streaming favorite: “Janice STFU.”

In the days since the albums’ release, the Sopranos-referencing (and even Sopranos-sampling) Iceman cut has taken over as Drake’s top song — and indeed, the top song period — on the U.S. daily streaming charts for both Spotify and Apple Music. While its release Friday (May 16) saw Iceman opener “Make Them Cry” as the sets’ most-streamed cut with 14.1 million first-day official on-demand U.S. streams, according to early data provided by Luminate, by Saturday “STFU Janice” had taken over as the most-streamed cut with just over 6.2 million, narrowly beating out the Future- and Molly Santana-featuring “Ran 2 Atlanta” at just under 6.2 million. (“Make Them Cry” had dropped to 5.1 million.)

As of Monday, “Janice” was still pacing the set with 5.4 million daily plays, while also delighting fans and superproducers and NBA MVPs and even the progeny of West Coast rap royalty. In other words, if you’re wondering about the most likely breakout hit from the 43 new Drake songs in our lives this week — or maybe even the biggest threat to take over at No. 1 on next week’s Billboard Hot 100 — you should probably start here. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER

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Yung Miami Eyes New Solo Hit As ‘Spend Dat’ Takes Off on Streaming 

It’s been almost five years since Yung Miami scored her first unaccompanied Hot 100 entry with “Rap Freaks” (No. 81) — and it looks like her second is on the way. 

Co-signed by Fat Joe and Jadakiss and steadily winning over social media, “Spend It” arrived on April 24, alongside its official music video. The hook-laden mid-tempo track finds the former City Girls member exploring familiar territory — scamming and contemporary romance — and its catchy hook has won over audiences due to its sing-songy cadence and Miami’s Opa-locka-rooted accent. 

Miami has also been hitting the promo circuit in anticipation of her forthcoming solo debut studio album, even sharing an EP of alternate version for fans who felt the song would sound better if sped up. Her presence and dedication to the record — combined with early skeptics eventually coming around — have resulted in notable streaming gains. According to Luminate, “Spend Dat” collected a little over 1 million official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of May 1-7. That figure leapt 107% to over 2.23 million official streams the following week (May 8-14). 

On May 9, TikTok user @/mrflawdaaa (a popular creator who’s launched viral dances for artists like Bossman Dlow), shared a “Spend Dat” dance challenge, racking up nearly 600,000 views and sparking a legitimate trend. Yung Miami hopped on the trend by May 17, with her post earning over 1.3 million views. During the weekend of May 8-10, “Spend Dat” earned over 870,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, with that figure jumping 107% to over 1.8 million official streams the following weekend, which reflects about a week of the dance trend’s burgeoning virality. 

On TikTok, the official “Spend Dat” sound plays in nearly 8,000 clips, while the sound attached to her On the Radar performance of the song can be heard in 17,000 additional posts. “Spend Dat” also plays in over 3,300 Instagram Reels. With a “Spend Dat” Goyard giveaway in process, a gas drive in her hometown of Miami on May 17 and the full album still on the way — expect “Spend Dat” to continue growing as the summer heats up. — KYLE DENIS 

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Noah Kahan’s ‘Orbiter’ Is Becoming a Breakout Bonus Track

Not far behind Drake, the reception for Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide album is undoubtedly becoming one of the streaming stories of the year. Not only did the album generate enough blockbuster-sized numbers during its debut week to chart all 17 tracks on the Hot 100 — as well as four extra bonus cuts, added to the album before the end of its first day of release — but the 21 combined Kahan songs all continued to stream well enough in the album’s second week to spend a second week on the chart, a rare level of week-over-week consistency for such a big debut.

While the decline has been slow, the great majority of the 21 songs have slipped week-to-week in streams from that debut week. But “Orbiter,” a tender ballad included as one of the four bonus cuts added to the album slightly after the fact, has actually begun to gain, and is now positioned to be one of the biggest and longest-lasting hits from this Kahan era.

The growth has come from TikTok’s embrace of the song as a trending audio, with its sentimental “I circle you” chorus soundtracking many thousands of clips — most from one half of a couple paying tribute to the other, but also including infinite varieties on that theme. Another similar audio focusing on the “even anxious pups need the moon” part of the refrain has become a predictable favorite among pet-owners, with Kahan himself indulging in such a video last week, captioning it “This trend is making my eyes dusty.”

The impact of these trends has been evident in the song’s official on-demand U.S. audio streams, which have climbed from 4.6 million for the tracking week ending Apr. 30 (just after the album’s release) to 5.3 million the week ending May 7 and 6.7 million the week ending May 14 — in total a 46% gain from release week. Meanwhile, the song has climbed from No. 79 to No. 56 on the Hot 100, leapfrogging several songs on the album that initially debuted higher than it, and threatening to jump into the chart’s top half next week as it continues to dustify eyes of listeners across the country. – AU

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PinkPantheress Celebrates One Year of ‘Fancy That’ Era with One More Streaming Hit 

From “Illegal” to “Stateside” — not to mention double Grammy nominations — PinkPantheress’ Fancy That era has been a resounding success. On May 8, she shared the official “Girl Like Me” music video to celebrate her mixtape’s first birthday — and sneakily launch her latest streaming hit. 

About a month before the music video arrived, “Girl Like Me” earned just over one million official on-demand U.S. streams during the week of April 10-16. That figure jumped 56% over the following two weeks to over 1.69 million official streams during the period of April 24-30, according to Luminate. By the week of May 8-14, which accounts for the first full week of the music video’s release, “Girl Like Me” leapt a further 69% to over 2.85 million official weekly streams. Over the past four weeks, “Girl Like Me” has exploded by over 165% in streaming activity. 

Notably, there’s also a mashup of “Girl Like Me” and Snow Strippers’ “Under Your Spell” that’s been dominating TikTok over the past 4-5 months, playing in over 125,000 clips on the platform, with most of those finding users recreating Pink’s live choreography for her song. “Girl Like Me” also currently plays in over 12,000 Instagram Reels. 

Already a No. 13 hit on Billboard‘s Dance/Pop Songs chart, “Girl Like Me” could potentially make Fancy That the soundtrack for a second consecutive summer. — K.D. 

Wiz Khalifa is a wanted man. The Pittsburgh rapper (born Cameron Jibril Thomaz) is listed on the website of the Romanian police, which states he has a warrant out for his arrest to complete a nine-month prison sentence.

Khalifa is wanted after being sentenced to nine months behind bars in December on illegal drug possession charges. The website lists the “warrant to execute a prison sentence” as the reasoning alongside the artist’s passport photo.

Translated to English, the website states that Khalifa was “sentenced to nine months in prison for committing the offense of possession of dangerous drugs without the right for personal consumption.”

When handing down the nine-month sentence, prosecutors alleged that Khalifa was smoking marijuana on stage during his July 2024 performance at the Beach, Please! Festival in Costinesti. Prosecutors also claimed he was found with more than 18 grams of marijuana.

Police allegedly stopped the Taylor Gang boss after seeing him smoking on stage while performing the Snoop Dogg-assisted hit “Young, Wild & Free,” which reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2011.

The 38-year-old posted an apology on X following the performance. “Last nights show was amazing. I didn’t mean any disrespect to the country of Romania by lighting up on stage,” he wrote at the time. “They were respectful and let me go. I’ll be back soon. But without a big ass joint next time.”

Last nights show was amazing. I didn’t mean any disrespect to the country of Romania by lighting up on stage. They were very respectful and let me go. I’ll be back soon. But without a big ass joint next time

— Wiz Khalifa (@wizkhalifa) July 14, 2024

Wiz was originally slapped with an $830 fine by a lower court, but Romanian prosecutors sought out a harsher sentence. He was then sentenced to the nine months behind bars, which was determined to be a final ruling.

It appears, as of press time, Khalifa failed to report to serve his sentence. The Pittsburgh native is currently on mgk’s Lost Americana tour, which kicked off Friday (May 15) and is trekking through North America. Wiz and mgk are also teaming up to drop their nostalgic Blog Era Boyz joint project on Friday (May 22).

Billboard has reached out to Khalifa’s reps and the Romanian police for comment.

After teaming up for a new soccer jersey drop, Peso Pluma and adidas continue in the World Cup spirit, announcing an official watch party and performance for the tournament’s opening in June.

The iconic footwear and apparel brand partnered with the Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Host Committee for its FIFA World Cup 26 activations set to take place June 11 at the city’s BMO Stadium. Starting at 11 a.m. PT, the event will host a watch party for the World Cup opening match between Mexico and South Africa followed by the adiCup, adidas’ nationwide 3v3 tournament, and culminating with a watch party for South Korea vs. Czechia at 7 p.m. PT.

BMO Stadium will then convert into a free celebration featuring a performance by Peso Pluma and a DJ set by Noodles. Free tickets for the show will be available as of June 1 on Ticketmaster. 

The initiative is part of adidas FIFA World Cup 26 Home of Soccer Brand Hubs — located in New York City and Toronto — that will offer free fan destinations open to the public throughout the tournament that starts June 11 and wraps July 19. The World Cup NYNJ Host Committee will host performances from PinkPantheress and Larry June alongside watch parties at NYC’s Brooklyn Bridge Park. Adidas will also host events on select dates in Houston, Atlanta, Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. 

Earlier this month, the Música Mexicana star partnered with adidas to create a Mexico 26 away jersey for the football team’s 2026-27 season.

“This isn’t just about me — it’s for my people, my culture and everyone pushing Mexico forward,” Pluma said in a press statement. “I’m excited to join the adidas family and keep showing the world who we are.” 

For more information on the adidas Home of Soccer events, click here or visit the adidas App.

Apple Music said it’s aiming to combat AI-generated content and shared that the service has updated its music style guide to address AI in a memo to partners obtained by Billboard.

“While AI is an incredibly exciting opportunity that promises to further that goal, we believe that technology should amplify artists, not replace them,” states the memo, sent on Wednesday (May 20).

Within the memo, Apple Music claimed that AI-platform-generated content made up less than 1% of all plays each week on Apple Music, and that 65% of AI-platform-generated tracks had yet to receive a single play.

The service also claims that it has developed its own internal technology used to identify AI-generated content, and that if an AI song is utilizing streaming manipulation it will automatically be removed from the platform. Apple Music vp Oliver Schusser mentioned the technology when he sat down with Billboard on the Record last month.

“We’ve developed technology in-house that would allow us to exactly see what music people are delivering us, and what AI [model] it is and all that,” Schusser told Billboard’s Kristin Robinson at the time.

Apple Music also shared that its Music Style Guide has been updated to address AI. “In February, we explicitly prohibited the use of AI in a misleading manner, evolving our long-standing policies against impersonation, spam and content that creates customer confusion,” the memo continues. “We also work to further minimize the impact of spam-like behavior, including repeated submissions and repetitious tracks, through careful curation of our content delivery processes.”

Apple Music also says content providers are asked to include information about AI-generated content. “Top distributors have started supplying this information where appropriate, and it will be required of all providers in the future,” it added in the memo. “We believe labels and distributors must take an active role in shaping the industry-wide policies around AI, and that starts with delivering AI content in a more transparent way.”

Apple Music introduced tagging for AI songs in March, requiring record labels and music distributors to disclose AI use in what are called “Transparency Tags” for artwork, tracks, compositions and music videos.

Since 2022, Apple Music has penalized streaming fraud, and the service doubled down on its penalties in February. In the memo, it claims it’s excluded more than 2 billion manipulated streams and returned those royalties to its payout pool: “Stream manipulation remains below 0.5% on Apple Music, which is among the lowest rates in the industry,” the service adds.

Shamrock Capital, best known for being the firm that sold Taylor Swift her early masters, said on Wednesday (May 20) it closed a fourth fund with more than $810 million in capital committed by investors and its general partner.

The Los Angeles-based investment firm said this is its fourth fund within its content strategy, which launched in 2015 and now handles 3.3 billion in assets under management across equity and debt products. The strategy has invested across film, TV, music, video games and sports rights, including in the assets of Metro Boomin and Dr. Dre.

“For more than a decade, we have invested in content and media rights, and this fundraise reflects the depth of the expertise and platform we have built at Shamrock,” said Patrick Russo, partner and member of Shamrock’s executive committee. “As content becomes more global, more valuable, and more complex to finance, we believe the need for sophisticated, long-term capital partners has never been greater. We have built our strategy to meet that need for content creators and rights-holders worldwide.”

The company said the fund was oversubscribed, having initially targeted $700 million, with commitments coming from pension funds, endowments, foundations, family offices, insurance companies and other institutional investors from the United States, Europe and Asia.

Shamrock was established as the family office for Roy E. Disney around 50 years ago The firm now says it has approximately $7.4 billion in assets under management as of May 11.

“The most valuable content assets are the ones that fans return to across generations, regardless of where or how they consume them,” said Jason Sklar, partner and executive committee member at Shamrock. “We are long-term investors, and the trust we have earned alongside artists, creators, and rights holders is the foundation of everything we do.”

Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Shamrock Capital. No placement agent was used in connection with the fundraising process.

The owner of the Peanuts theme song and other music from the Charlie Brown franchise is going on the legal offensive, filing four copyright lawsuits Wednesday (May 20) over alleged unauthorized uses of Vince Guaraldi‘s iconic jazz tracks.

In one case, Lee Mendelson Film Productions (LMFP) accused a video game company called GameMill Entertainment of creating unlicensed songs that “mimicked and evoked” Guaraldi’s songs for an otherwise-licensed Peanuts game.

In another case, the company accused the U.S. Department of the Interior of directly using Guaraldi’s “O Tannenbaum” from the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas in a digital holiday card without paying for it.

“Unauthorized use doesn’t just violate the law, it erodes the exclusivity and artistic integrity that make these compositions meaningful to generations of fans,” said Mendelson attorney Marc Jacobson, who added that the company will “no longer tolerate companies using their property without a license, especially in this era of instant digital sharing.”

Two more lawsuits, filed against collectibles manufacturers Buckle‑Down Inc. and Heritage Auctions, claim those companies used Peanuts songs, including the unofficial franchise theme “Linus and Lucy,” in promotional social media advertisements.

“The composition is an iconic theme, associated with a beloved children’s series and television Christmas classic special,” Mendelson’s lawyers write. “It is widely familiar to the American public as one of the most popular works of television music of all time.”

The original Peanuts comic strip was created by Charles M. Schulz in 1950, but the famous television specials were a joint project of Schultz, TV producer Lee Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez. Starting with Christmas and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, the trio produced dozens of Peanuts specials, many of them scored by Guaraldi.

The rights to Guaraldi’s music are still held by the late Mendelson’s company, and they aren’t afraid to enforce them. In 2019, LMFP filed a similar copyright case against Dolly Parton’s Dollywood theme park over accusations that it had used Peanuts songs in Christmas-themed theatrical productions for years.

Wednesday’s lawsuit against GameMill is centered on Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club, a video game starring Charlie ​Brown’s dog Snoopy. GameMill properly licensed the Peanuts characters themselves — those rights are owned by a different company — but the lawsuit says it took a shortcut when it came to the music: Creating knockoff tracks that sounded highly similar to the originals.

“GameMill self-evidently wanted the Peanuts imagery in the [Snoopy] game to be paired with the Peanuts music, but, equally self-evidently, did not want to pay plaintiff for rights to use it,” LMFP’s attorneys write in that complaint.

The case against the Department of the Interior, meanwhile, claims that the federal agency used “Tannenbaum” in an animated Christmas card posted to Instagram, X and other social media sites. “The card was viewed millions of times on many platforms,” reads that complaint.

None of the defendants immediately returned requests for comment on Wednesday.