Music

The Estates Of Robin Williams And George Carlin Are Both Suing Pandora For Unpaid Streaming Royalties

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Robin Williams and George Carlin are two of the most prolific, ubiquitous, and downright hilarious comedians of all time. Sadly, Williams has been dead since 2014 and Carlin since 2008. But that still hasn’t stopped streaming service giants Pandora from profiting off of their stand-up comedy recordings without paying royalties to their respective estates. At least that’s what copyright infringements lawsuits filed by both Williams’ and Carlin’s estates are claiming.

According to filings of these lawsuits obtained by Rolling Stone, Williams’ estate is seeking to get $4.1 million in damages, while Carlin’s camp is suing for $8.4 million. The lawsuits claim that Pandora knew that they were streaming the recordings, even though they didn’t have the proper licensing right to do it. Furthermore, they haven’t paid any money to the estates that preside over the comedians’ posthumous earnings.

The claims state that Pandora “gained listeners, subscribers and market share with full knowledge it did not have licenses.” In 2018, Pandora was sold to SiriusXM for a whopping $3.5 billion and recordings from comedy titans like Williams and Carlin were (and still are) a part of the service’s offerings.

The filing from Carlin’s estate cheekily states, “While Carlin would have been thrilled for his works to live on through valid licenses and payments, he would have seven dirty words to say about Pandora’s actions and willful copyright infringement, no doubt.”

For what it’s worth, Pandora also received complaints from comedians Andrew Dice Clay, Ron White, and Bill Engvall. It sounds like they need to legitimize this portion of their operation in regards to comedy recordings, or the names on that list are going to grow even bigger.

Why Are People Leaving Spotify?

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This past January 24th, legendary musician Neil Young wrote an open letter threatening to remove his entire catalog from Spotify if the streaming service did not remove Joe Rogan and his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, from the platform. Young cited how Rogan continuously spreads COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on his show. “Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” he said.“They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.” This was the first domino to tip and quite a bit has happened since.

Why Are People Leaving Spotify? Inside The Controversy

Soon after Young’s statement, Spotify sided with Joe Rogan, their $100 million man who signed a very rich exclusive licensing deal in 2020. Young’s music was removed, but other artists began to follow his lead. Joni Mitchell joined Young in removing her music, then the rest of Young’s Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young bandmates announced that they were pulling their music as well. This led to numerous artists beginning to question their relationship with Spotify — who already pays artists a criminally low amount of money per song play — and then India.Arie took an even deeper stand against Rogan and Spotify. Arie announced that she was removing her catalog and her podcast, Songversation, citing not necessarily Rogan’s vaccine misinformation as the reason, but rather his problematic language around issues of race. “Neil Young opened a door that I MUST Walk Through,” she posted on Instagram. Rogan soon issued an apology for his misinformation and later for his language.

Arie later posted a video showing numerous instances of Rogan using the n-word on his show, called for a full-on Boycott, and Spotify, in turn, removed 70 episodes of the podcast from the streaming service. But why this issue isn’t going away anytime soon, and why people will likely continue to leave Spotify, is because of the platform’s tepid measures taken. A “content advisory” warning has been added to the platform and CEO Daniel Ek wrote a letter to all employees, which felt a bit more like damage control and a potential PR play.

Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Who Are Tyler The Creator’s Tour Openers?

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Tyler The Creator AMAs Performance 2021
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Two years after he released his fifth album Igor, which eventually gave him a Grammy award for Best Rap Album, Tyler The Creator returned with his sixth album Call Me If You Get Lost. The project stands as a 16-track effort with contributions from Ty Dolla Sign, Lil Uzi Vert, Pharrell, Brent Faiyaz, Lil Wayne, and more. Months after releasing that project, Tyler The Creator received another Grammy nomination for the album, one that found him in the Best Rap Album category for the 2022 Grammy show. Later on, Tyler The Creator announced the full dates for a tour in support of Call Me If You Get Lost and it features a strong lineup of opening acts.

Who Are Tyler The Creator’s Tour Openers?

The opening acts for Tyler’s 2022 tour in support of Call Me If You Get Lost are Kali Uchis, Vince Staples, and Teezo Touchdown. Kali and Vince both released projects within the last couple of years. The former shared her sophomore album, Sin Miedo (Del Amor Y Otros Demonios), in 2020 while Vince dropped his self-titled third album last year. Teezo Touchdown, on the other hand, has yet to release a project. In addition to his eccentric and extremely unique appearance, the Texas native has steadily released singles over the past two years that have helped to boost his stock. Altogether, these opening acts are sure to provide a good show with Tyler for his upcoming tour.

You can see the full dates for Tyler’s upcoming tour below and purchase tickets for a show near you here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

NLE Choppa Lives A Life Of Leisure In His ‘Lick Me Baby’ Video

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For as much attention as NLE Choppa has gotten for some of his social media antics and possible NBA YoungBoy feud of late, the number-one reason to stay tuned to the charismatic Memphian is still his music. Just two weeks ago, he released his new album, Me Vs. Me, rightfully putting the focus back on his musical output after threatening to quit rap to become a herbalist and hawking chlorophyll drinks online.

After dropping a strong run of singles from the album including “Too Hot” with fellow Memphis rapper Moneybagg Yo, “Stompin,” and “Trap Phone,” he followed up today with another new video for the salacious standout, “Lick Me Baby.” On the song, he invites a female companion to to give up her inhibitions and the video follows that theme, with Choppa living a life of leisure surrounded by beautiful women. Scenarios he finds himself include giving CPR to a drowning victim (because he gets to touch her chest), shooting a parody sex tape, and dreaming about twerking women while a woman twerks next to him.

Watch NLE Choppa’s “Lick Me Baby” video above.

Me Vs. Me is out now via NLE Choppa Entertainment and Warner Records.

NLE Choppa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lil Wayne Enjoys A Spectacular View In His ‘Cameras’ Video With Allan Cubas

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Earlier this year, Lil Wayne was able to finally bring his fan-favorite 2011 mixtape Sorry 4 The Wait to streaming along with four new songs. Among those new songs was “Cameras,” featuring new Young Money artist Allan Cubas, an upbeat showcase of Wayne’s lyricism and Cubas’ smooth vocals.

Today, Wayne shared the video for “Cameras,” which finds the two artists taking in a spectacular sunset from the deck of an infinity pool intercut with clips of synchronized swimmers and models taking aggressively close-up photos of Cubas with Polaroid cameras. The treatment is a quirky inversion of a common hip-hop video trope, making the two rappers the objects of admiration.

In terms of new music, Wayne has reportedly been in the studio with 2 Chainz, working on the follow-up to their 2016 joint album, ColleGrove. Wayne also recently popped up work with the likes of Cordae (on “Sinister” from Cordae’s album From A Bird’s Eye View), Alicia Keys, and The Weeknd, as well as the joint album he dropped with Rich The Kid late last summer. Although he hasn’t announced any new projects, he’s far too prolific to let 2022 go by without releasing a body of all-new work at some point.

For now, you can watch Lil Wayne’s “Cameras” video above.

Sorry 4 The Wait is out now via Young Money Records. Get it here.

Julia Fox Addresses Kanye West Break-Up Rumors She Accidentally Started On Instagram

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The rumor mill was open this weekend, as some people noticed that Julia Fox unfollowed Kardashian fan accounts and deleted some pictures of her and Ye (aka Kanye West). Naturally, the conclusion that many reached in light of that activity is that Fox and West’s relationship was facing some trouble. However, Fox addressed all this directly and assured all onlookers that there’s a perfectly good explanation for everything.

In a video shared on her Instagram Story, Fox said, “Guys, relax. I unfollowed the fan accounts because I was tired of seeing myself, OK? Suddenly, Instagram was not a fun place anymore. And I took the f*cking photos down because I read the comments and everyone was like, ‘Oh my God, you clearly only posted photos where you looked good in.’”

Her latest Instagram post, a gallery of photos of herself and West, addresses that sort of feedback directly, as she wrote, “And of course special thanks to Ye [heart emoji] pics by @arnold_daniel. YES IM AWARE I ONLY CHOSE PHOTOS THAT I LOOK GOOD IN [nail polish emoji].”

While West’s life story has new chapters to it every day, a majority of the tale will be told in the upcoming Jeen-Yuhs documentary series, which premieres on Netflix on February 16.

A Right-Wing Platform Has Offered Joe Rogan $100 Million To Leave Spotify

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The Joe Rogan Spotify saga isn’t going away anytime soon, folks. Today, a right-wing platform just offered Rogan the same $100 million that Spotify paid him for the exclusive rights to broadcast his The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, because of course they did.

The company that has approached Rogan with the offer is Canadian video platform Rumble, which has prominent right-wing pundits like Steve Bannon and Dinesh D’Souza in its stable. As The Hollywood Reporter reported, CEO Chris Pavloski posted an open letter to Rogan on the company’s Twitter account. It has a real deal with the devil vibe.

“Dear Joe, We stand with you, your guests, and your legion of fans in desire for real conversation,” Pavloski began. “So we’d like to offer you 100 million reasons to make the world a better place. How about you bring all your shows to Rumble, both new and old, with no censorship, for $100 million bucks over four years? This is our chance to save the world. And yes, this is totally legit … We stand with you, your guests and your legion of fans in desire for real conversation.”

So what would stop Rogan from spurning Spotify and taking the money from Rumble? For one, Spotify’s platform is huge and Rogan can certainly get more listeners there than just about anywhere else. Additionally, for all the malarkey that he spits on his show, he is a self-proclaimed liberal who has apologized for using the n-word. So, finding a platform that would seemingly not care if he used it or spread vaccine misinformation isn’t likely what motivates him quite so much as what the court of public opinion thinks of him in the long run.

Meanwhile, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wrote a letter to all staff members on Sunday night indicating that he doesn’t believe that censoring Joe Rogan is the right call. Time will surely tell how this all plays out…

Lil Durk Challenges A Fellow Chicagoan With His ‘7220’ Release Date

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Lil Durk has been hyping the release of his next album, 7220, for a while now, sharing the dates for the album’s spring tour in late January and making himself as visible as possible on tracks like 50 Cent’s “Power Powder Respect,” Cordae’s “Chronicles,” Gucci Mane’s “Rumors,” and 2 Chainz’s “Lost Kings.” And although he hasn’t yet released an official single for the album, he did just reveal its release date — and his strategy for getting fans’ attention focused on it to ensure they stream it as much as possible.

“My album drop same day as YE 2/22/22,” he tweeted, revealing both the release date and subtly challenging his fellow Chicagoan. Although plenty of artists would likely loathe releasing their albums on the same projected day as Kanye’s hotly-anticipated Donda 2, it appears that Lil Durk is so confident in his own project, he doesn’t mind risking getting overshadowed. In fact, the tactic more or less takes a page right out of Kanye’s own playbook. In 2007, Kanye bet on his own album Graduation against the sales juggernaut named 50 Cent and 50’s impending release of Massacre.

Kanye and 50 both got into the spirit of the competition, which held seismic implications for the state of hip-hop at the time. When Kanye outsold 50 after their first weeks were tallied, it signaled a shift away from 50’s dominance (and, by extension, the gangsta rap genre in general) toward Kanye’s (and so-called “alternative rap,” which opened the door for successors such as Drake and J. Cole). While Kanye isn’t likely to repeat this tactic twice, especially standing in 50’s position this time around, a big streaming week for Durk could signal a similar end to Kanye’s own charts dominance in favor of a younger generation of rappers.

We’ll see how it all pans out — or whether Kanye even releases his album on the promised date — on 2/22.

Cardi B Thinks There’s Something Wrong With The Water In Atlanta

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Even though it has been nearly three years since Cardi B last released an album (her Grammy-winning debut, Invasion Of Privacy), She remains as popular as ever as fans eagerly anticipate her next project, promised sometime this year. Part of the reason is that she remains so visible, still dutifully logging into her Instagram to share her thoughts with fans, which was a huge part of how she became so popular in the first place.

In her latest Instagram Live stream, she expressed her concern that “there is something wrong with the water in Atlanta.” In typical Cardi fashion, after saying something she knows could be outrageous (she even admitted that she “was afraid to say it”), she thoughtfully broke down the facts that brought her to this conclusion.

“I believe that there is something wrong with the water in Atlanta,” she said. “Because, while I was in Atlanta, my face just started getting so dry and irritated. I kept putting moisturizer to the point that it started getting so irritated that I started putting Vaseline on, the old school way.” After returning to her native New York, she said, her skin still has yet to normalize and asked viewers for their suggestions for a product that might fix the problem. “Do any of y’all have suggestions of what type of moisturizer I should wear?” she wondered.

“Because, bro, I feel like I’ve been trying everything. My face is so irritated, it just feels itchy and dry.” Check out her Live below.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Pusha T Promises To Release His New Song ‘Diet Coke’ After A Snippet Surfaces Online

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Today, Pusha T fans woke to a mysterious snippet of what appeared to be a new music video from the rapper featuring Kanye West. The snippet appeared to have been originally uploaded by veteran journalist Elliott Wilson, who tweeted out the clip without fanfare or explanation, leading to two hours of speculation about its origin.

And while no one quite knew what to make of the clip, that didn’t stop it from spreading like wildfire, with Pusha T supporters demanding the song be released as soon as possible.

Well, it was either all part of the plan, or Pusha is just really in tune with fans on Twitter, because it didn’t take long for him to reveal the release date via his own social pages: The track, titled “Diet Coke,” is set for release at midnight tonight — meaning 12 am ET February 8.

Meanwhile, the song’s producer, 88 Keys had apparently gone Live on Instagram to explain that the beat was 18 years old and originally intended as an interlude on one of his own beat tapes.

“Diet Coke” will be Pusha’s first solo single since 2018’s Daytona, which contained the songs “Infrared,” “If You Know You Know,” and “Santeria.” He began teasing his new music in late January with a photo of Lana Del Rey after revealing the new album would be produced by Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.