Eminem criticised for gunshot sounds in Bonnaroo festival set
Eminem has been criticised for using a gunshot effect during his headline set at the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee.

As the rapper performed his 2000 track 'Kill You', a series of loud gunshot-like bangs rang out. After various videos of the performance shared on social networks were picked up by the media, a spokesperson for Eminem denied that gunshot effects had been used.

"Contrary to inaccurate reports, Eminem does not use gunshot sound effects during his live show", said the statement. "The effect used by Eminem in his set at Bonnaroo was a pyrotechnic concussion which creates a loud boom. He has used this effect - as have hundreds other artists - in his live show for over ten years, including previous US festival dates in 2018 without complaint".

While this pyrotechnic effect - which may not technically be a gunshot sound effect, but is designed to sound like one - has been part of Eminem's show for more than a decade, after last year's Route 91 festival shooting in Las Vegas - in which 58 people were killed and hundreds injured - open air festival audiences are somewhat more jumpy.

Opinion about the ongoing use of the effect was divided on social media (because, obviously) but many criticised the rapper for continuing to use it in the wake of last year's Vegas attack. And to do so seemingly without warning.

YouTuber Andrea Russett, who attended the performance, tweeted: "To hear a gun shot sound effect and see the entire crowd drop to the floor out of instinct is not funny, cute, or amusing. This is the sad reality that we are living. This is not funny or even something to be joked about".

Earlier this month, punk band NOFX issued an apology after making jokes about the Route 91 Harvest shooting at another festival in Las Vegas.

"What NOFX said in Vegas was shameful", they said. "We crossed the line of civility. We can't write songs about how people in this world need to be more decent, when we were clearly being indecent. Las Vegas has always been a welcoming city to our band, and to make light of the tragedy that occurred there was egregious".

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Dancing baby fair use case could end with settlement
The long running 'dancing baby' case that tested the obligations of takedown issuers to consider whether unlicensed use of their copyright material is 'fair use' could be finally reaching a conclusion via an out of court settlement.

This dispute began way back in 2007 when one Stephanie Lenz posted a video onto YouTube of her child dancing to the Prince track 'Let's Go Crazy'. Universal Music Publishing, then repping the Prince songs repertoire, had Lenz's video removed using the takedown provisions in America's Digital Millennium Copyright Act. But Lenz argued that the short video was 'fair use' under US law and then - with support from the Electronic Frontier Foundation - sued Universal for abuse of the DMCA.

The lawsuit posed the question of whether or not a rights owner issuing a DMCA takedown was required to first consider whether any video using music it controlled without permission was covered by the 'fair use' principle under US copyright law. If the video did constitute 'fair use', no licence would be required, so no takedown should be issued.

The litigation spent years going through the motions, before the Ninth Circuit court ruled in 2015. It said that yes, rights owners must indeed consider fair use rules before issuing a takedown notice. So, success for Lenz.

However, the appeal judges then said that this consideration need not be too rigorous, and providing that the label genuinely didn't think fair use applied, well, that was alright then. So, success for Universal. Though the major was less keen on the Ninth Circuit's concurrent opinion on how any damages relating to the case might be calculated.

Both sides subsequently referred the matter to the American Supreme Court, where the Solicitor General in the US Department Of Justice was consulted. But ultimately the top court decided not to consider the case. That meant that the whole thing seemed likely to return to a lower court, where the Lenz side would have argued that Universal failed the albeit low-bar requirement provided by the Ninth Circuit regarding the fair use check in the takedown process.

But last week a note from the judge overseeing the case stated that a provisional settlement had now been reached by both parties in the dispute, though the note added that the final wording of that settlement is still to be agreed.

Assuming both parties do ultimately sign up to that settlement deal, it will bring to an end an eleven year case that outlasted the musician whose music it involved. And while the case did confirm that fair use must be considered during the takedown process, it didn't provide much clarity on what that means, especially in the age of Content ID and similar technologies used by other platforms.

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Beats By Dre $100 million royalties dispute reaches LA Superior Court
A long-running legal battle over the origins of Beats By Dre headphones has reached the Los Angeles Superior Court. One time hedge-fund manager Steven Lamar claims that he is owed $100 million in royalties for his part in the development of the headphone line.

Lamar claims that it was him who originally pitched the idea of celeb-endorsed headphones to then Universal exec Iovine in 2006. He also says that he pulled together the original consortium of companies to work on the design and manufacture of the initial Beats products.

Neither Dre nor Iovine deny Lamar's involvement in the early days of the Beats project, but the partnership Lamar put together quickly fell apart, resulting in legal action. That dispute was settled out of court and, as part of the deal, Lamar was offered a 4% royalty payment on certain Beats headphones. But which Beats headphones, exactly? That question then resulted in new legal action in 2014.

The basic dispute is whether or not the 4% royalty only applied to original Beats products, or newer products derived from the originals. The Beats company - now an Apple subsidiary, of course - argues the former, and at first instance the judge agreed that this seemed the right interpretation of the deal done between Dre, Iovine and Lamar.

The case has been through various court proceedings - including being rejected entirely by one court. It was revived again in 2016, after a California appeals court ruled that the ambiguity of the royalty agreement meant that the case should be considered by a jury.

On Dre and Iovine's side, they say that it was never expected that Beats would be the success it became. It was assumed that there would only ever be one pair of headphones, and this is what the deal with Lamar related to. However, Lamar's legal team say they have evidence that there was always a plan to build a wider range of products.

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Lil Wayne settles Cash Money legal dispute
A lawyer for Lil Wayne has confirmed that a settlement has been reached in his long-running legal battle with Cash Money Records.

The legal dispute between Lil Wayne and Birdman's Cash Money label has been going on since 2015. It began with claims that the label had failed to hand over a $10 million advance for Wayne's long-awaited 'Tha Carter V' album, and in the intervening years has spiralled into a complicated case into which Universal Music was also pulled.

Speculation that some progress had finally been made in the dispute began to circulate earlier this year when Birdman and Lil Wayne were pictured socialising.

The rapper's attorney, Ron Sweeney, confirmed that a settlement had been reached, telling Billboard: "Per our settlement agreement, the matter has been amicably resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. In terms of the particulars, we're prohibited legally from saying anything further. I can say that my client is happy. He is his own man, a man that owns his assets, his music and himself. At some point, Wayne will let his fans know what's going to happen next".

Whether this means that the album held in limbo by all this legal wrangling, 'Tha Carter V', will now see the light of day remains to be see. However, Birdman and Lil Wayne were pictured this weekend in a studio seemingly working on new music.

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Lily Allen says lengthy contracts make it difficult for musicians to share #MeToo stories
Lily Allen has said that she's been reluctant to join in with the #MeToo movement and share her own stories, because her career remains linked to a man she says sexually abused her. This, she added, is due in part to a reluctance in the music industry to act on complaints against executives, and the fact that she is still bound by a five album contract she signed aged nineteen, thirteen years ago.

"I've had things happen that I would feel uncomfortable talking about because they're linked with lots of people I work with", she told iNews last week. "People who are in control of things that affect me ... I reported it to people around me - women! - and no one did anything".

She continued: "My record label have a list of priority acts, pretty much all of which have a link to the person who did something to me. I know what will happen. They'll say, 'Let's try and get rid of Lily because this person is worth more to us because he makes us lots of money'. In film and TV, you can choose not to work with any of those people again. You can move country, move out of London to LA. You can't do that in music. It's the same bunch of people on both sides of the Atlantic and it's inescapable because [artists are tied to] fifteen year long contracts".

Allen released the fourth of her five contracted albums on Friday.

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Demi Lovato cancels London show hours before she's due on stage
Demi Lovato cancelled a show in London last night, just hours before she was due to go on stage. Citing fears about the health of her vocal cords, she moved the show to a new date later this month.

"I write through tears of sadness and frustration that I have to postpone my concert in London at the O2 tonight due to being very, very sick with swollen vocal cords", she wrote in a statement shared on social media. "If I go on tonight and injure my vocal cords and more I could potentially have to cancel the rest of my tour".

Last night's show has now been moved to 25 Jun. The statement did not mention other UK gigs set to take place this week, although it seems likely that at least some of those may also be postponed or cancelled altogether.

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Years & Years, Mike Shinoda, Bugzy Malone, more

Other notable announcements and developments today...

• Get a daily news summary, our latest job ads and more via our Messenger bot. Click here to get started.

• Years & Years will premiere the short film they've made to accompany new album 'Palo Alto' at a secret London location on Wednesday. After that it'll be on YouTube. Here's a trailer.

• Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda has released new track 'Ghosts'. His new solo album, 'Post Traumatic', is out this week.

• Bugzy Malone has released new track 'Warning'. It's taken from his new album, 'B.Inspired', which is out on 14 Aug.

• Dagny has released new single, 'Used To You'. "I've been very excited about releasing my new single 'Used To You'", she says. "It's a song full of energy and guts, but with a heartbreaking undertone".

• Helena Deland has revealed the video for her song 'Take It All'. She's also announced that she'll be playing UK shows in October, including on at the Sebright Arms in London on 24 Oct.

• You Me At Six have announced UK tour dates for November, including a Brixton Academy show on 30 Nov. Their new album, 'VI', will be out on 5 Oct. Here's a new single, 'Fast Forward'.

• Deafheaven have announced UK tour dates in October, including a show at ULU in London on 5 Oct. Their new album, 'Ordinary Corrupt Human Love', will be out on 13 Jul.

• Aïsha Devi will play Oslo in Hackney on 14 Jun. Be sure to go.

• Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily - updated every Friday.

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Pusha T declares Drake beef "over" with plenty of summer left to go
Having promised a summer of beefing with Drake, Pusha T has now declared the whole thing "over". Sorry.

As you'll almost certainly be aware, Pusha T reignited the two rappers' long-running feud with a track on his new album, 'Infrared'. Drake responded with a track of his own and Pusha T then put out another. It was all very exciting.

Then Pusha T producer Kanye West declared the whole thing "dead" and Drake mentor J Prince said he'd convinced his protégé not to release a new diss track that could have been "career-ending" for Kanye.

Now Pusha T has confirmed to Vanity Fair that it's all over. "These conversations have been had and, to my knowledge, it's all over", he says. "It's all over with".

But what have we learned from the beefing that did occur? "I don't even know", he shrugs. "I don't know what was lost or what was gained".

So that was all worthwhile then.

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