business
Netflix Sues ‘Unofficial Bridgerton Musical’ Creators Days After Sold-Out NYC Live Show
Days after musicians Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear performed their Grammy-winning Unofficial Bridgerton Musical to a sold-out audience at the Kennedy Center, Netflix is suing them for “blatant infringement” of the company’s rights to the popular period drama. In a complaint filed Friday (July 29) in D.C. federal court, Netflix accused the duo of piggybacking on “the creative work and hard-earned success” of hundreds of artists and staffers behind Bridgerton – using the company’s copyrights and trademarks without permission to build a “brand for themselves.” “Netflix owns the exclusive right to create Bridgerton songs, musicals, or any other derivative works based on Bridgerton,” the company wrote. “Barlow & Bear cannot take that right—made valuable by others’ hard work—for th...
CoinFLEX announces staff cuts as part of measures to reduce costs by up to 60%
Cryptocurrency exchange CoinFLEX said it had downsized a “significant number” of team members in an effort to cut operating costs. According to a Friday blog post, CoinFLEX said it had cut some staff across “all departments and geographies” as part of measures to reduce the company’s costs by 50% to 60%. The majority of the remaining team members will focus on product and technology, and the exchange said it would consider scaling as “volume comes back.” “The intention is to remain right-sized for any entity considering a potential acquisition of or partnership opportunity with CoinFLEX,” said the exchange. On Saturday, CoinFLEX halted withdrawals after an unnamed party reportedly failed to meet a $47 million margin call. CEO Mark Lamb later took to Twitter to confirm rumors that CoinFLEX ...
Britney Spears Won’t Have to Sit for a Deposition in Legal Battle With Dad, Judge Rules
A Los Angeles judge sided with Britney Spears on Wednesday (July 27) and rejected her father’s demand that she sit for a deposition. At a hearing Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Judge Brenda Penny finalized her earlier tentative decision to deny a request from attorneys for Jamie Spears to depose his daughter amid ongoing litigation over his alleged misconduct during her controversial 13-year legal conservatorship. Britney’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, argued there was no reason for the pop star to face a deposition in the case, and called it an act of revenge by her father and his lawyers. “Whether he believes it or accepts it, what she went through under him [was traumatic]. What would a decent dad do? He would say, ‘That’s my daughter, I love my daughter,’” Rosengart said...
Rap on Capitol Hill: Proposed Federal Law Would Ban Lyrics From Criminal Cases
A proposed law introduced in Congress on Tuesday (July 27) would heavily restrict when federal prosecutors can cite rap lyrics as evidence during a criminal case, mirroring recent efforts in California and New York to limit the increasingly controversial practice. Introduced by U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), the Restoring Artistic Protection Act (RAP Act) would sharply limit when any form of creative or artistic expression could be used as evidence against the person who created it. “Our judicial system disparately criminalizes Black and brown lives, including Black and brown creativity,” Bowman said in a statement announcing the bill. “We cannot imprison our talented artists for expressing their experiences nor will we let their creativity be suppressed.” The bi...
Billboard ChartStars and FEWOCiOUS Partner for Exclusive NFT Drop
Get ready for the drop! Billboard ChartStars has teamed with FEWOCiOUS for a colorful new NFT drop, arriving in full this Friday (July 29). This time, the 19-year-old artist has designed a full issue of Billboard Magazine, existing inside his FewoWorld and stuffed with Easter eggs and exclusive audio. The cover star is Mr. MiSUNDERSTOOD, one of FEWOCiOUS’ most popular characters. The special release will consist of 250 tokens sold at $250 each, with portions of the proceeds benefitting The Trevor Project, the suicide prevention and mental health organization for LGBTQ young people. It’s the second NFT collaboration between Billboard and FEWOCiOUS (aka Victor Langlois), who previously served as guest illustrator for the trade title’s annual Pride issue cover. NFT hunters can join the Twitte...
Blockchain Streaming Platform Audius Victim of $6M Hack
Audius, a blockchain-based streaming service, announced over the weekend that a hacker managed to steal and sell millions of dollars worth of AUDIO tokens from the platform. The hacker was able to find and exploit a bug in Audius’ smart contract — the code that allows decentralized platforms to function without intermediaries. Other companies have been hit in a similar fashion: The blockchain security firm Beosin recently estimated that close to $2 billion has been lost to hacking incidents in the first half of 2022. “The most common hacking techniques continue to be contract vulnerability exploitation and flash loans,” Beosin noted. On Saturday, Audius tweeted that it was looking into “reports of an unauthorized transfer… from the community treasury.” The following day, the company publis...
Self-Described R. Kelly Manager Pleads Guilty to Stalking
A self-described manager and adviser to R. Kelly pleaded guilty Tuesday (July 26) to an interstate stalking charge, less than a week after he was convicted of making a phone threat that gunfire was about to occur in a Manhattan theater where a documentary about the singer was about to be shown. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Donnell Russell, 47, of Chicago, entered the plea in Brooklyn federal court. U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said Russell used threats, harassment and intimidation to silence one of Kelly’s sexual abuse victims. Kelly, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison last month, was convicted last year of racketeering and sex trafficking. Peace said in a statement that Russell sent threatening messages to the woman and her mother...
Lollapalooza Expands to India in 2023, Marking Festival’s Asia Debut
MUMBAI — Lollapalooza is traveling to India, a price sensitive live music market where the appetite for international music of all genres has grown considerably in the streaming era. The multi-genre festival will be staged in Mumbai on Jan. 28-29, 2023, marking its debut in Asia. BookMyShow, India’s largest ticketing platform, is promoting and co-producing Lollapalooza India, along with global producers Perry Farrell, WME and C3 Presents, which is owned by Live Nation. The festival’s Mumbai installment, which will take place at an as-yet unannounced venue “in the center of the city,” will feature around 45 acts playing 20 hours of music across four stages to an audience of 60,000 fans each day. The line-up will comprise 60% international artists and 40% local acts, the promoters tell Billb...
Chipotle takes ‘buy the dip’ literally with new $200K crypto giveaway
United States-based fast casual restaurant chain Chipotle has started an online game which will give customers the chance to win more than $200,000 in crypto. In a Monday announcement, Chipotle said that, through July 31, fans would be able to play its “Buy The Dip” game using their rewards accounts. The company will give away $45,000 in Bitcoin (BTC), $10,000 in Ether (ETH), $13,750 in Solana (SOL), $14,250 in Avalanche (AVAX) and $14,250 in Dogecoin (DOGE) via the game. “We want to build the next generation of Chipotle fandom by connecting with the Web3 community,” said Chipotle chief marketing officer Chris Brandt. Free crypto giveaway? — Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 25, 2022 The restaurant chain gave away $100,000 in BTC in April 2021 as part of a promotion for National Burrito Day....
Crypto user who lost $163M in Bitcoin wants to deploy robot search party — Report
James Howells, a British man who mistakenly discarded a hard drive containing roughly 7,500 Bitcoin (BTC) in 2013, has reportedly started looking at having robots and humans work together to retrieve his crypto from a local landfill. According to a Sunday report from Business Insider, Howells has pitched an $11-million idea to locate and recover the lost hard drive, which may be surrounded by up to roughly 110,000 tons of garbage. Backed by a few venture capitalists, the proposal involved people, robot dogs and other machines picking up and sorting through the landfill’s trash for up to three years until the lost Bitcoin is found, while another version of Howells’ plan would cost $6 million and take 18 months. Many crypto users recognize Howells’ actions as a telltale story of the importan...
Colleen Ironside, One of ‘Most Respected’ Promoters in Asia, Has Died
Colleen Ironside, the live music professional who, with her force-of-nature personality, set the groundwork for a pan-Asian touring network and produced scores of tours in the region for Live Nation and other companies, has died. Ironside cut her teeth in the music industry as a booking agent for the Harbour Premier Agency in Sydney, Australia. She went out on her own, establishing and running APA Booking Agency, which booked INXS, Ratcat, James Reyne, Jenny Morris and Wendy Matthews for Australia, New Zealand and Asia. In 1994, a promotion for Ironside with Frontier Touring, which gave her the reins on regional tours for such acts as Pearl Jam, REM, Tom Jones and Hootie and the Blowfish. In 1999 she set up her business, Live Limited, which would tour acts through Asia including Cold...
Music Execs Flood to Invest in New Contract Creation Tech
Creative Intell has raised $3 million in seed funding that includes some of music’s top industry veterans for a service that automates how legal contracts are written. As everything from banking to project management has been revolutionized by online platforms, entertainment law remains the domain of Word, Dropbox and email. “This industry is absolutely behind,” says co-founder Steven Ship, who along with co-founder David Fritz of the entertainment law firm Boyarski Fritz is intent on making contracts accessible and understandable for independent musicians and producers while improving the workflow and efficiency of enterprise clients such as law firms. The product is currently in private beta and is expected to roll out to a wider audience this fall. Creative Intell has not revealed its p...
