Dolly Parton Estate Battle, Jay-Z Accuser Recants, Sam Smith Ruling & More Top Music Law News

THE BIG STORY: The late great Dolly Parton once told Billboard that she was putting her affairs in order because you don’t want to leave a “mess to your family for people to have to fight over.” But just a month after her death, family litigation is here anyway.

In a lawsuit filed last week, her estate claimed that her nephew and longtime head of security, Bryan Seaver, tried to extort money since her death by sending violent threats like “I’m a killer” and “all I do is warfare.” Seaver denies threatening anyone and says his words have been taken “out of context.”

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As Dolly seems to have known, it’s all too common in the music industry for family feuds to break out after a major artist dies. It’s almost inevitable when stars like Prince die without a will, but even the best-planned estates can easily descend into intra-family legal battles. “You can plan the inheritance as carefully as Dolly did,” one expert tells Billboard, “but you cannot guarantee everyone’s acceptance of that plan.” For more, go read the full story here.

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Other top stories this week…

-Speaking of family feuds: Aaliyah’s relatives are still fighting in court over royalties to her music, more than five years after a catalog deal that was supposed to end long-running family drama.

-A woman who accused Jay-Z of raping her as a 13-year-old girl fully recanted her allegations, telling a judge that her claims were “false.” Her ex-lawyer Tony Buzbee quickly responded, calling the U-turn testimony “bought-and-paid-for.”

-Shortly after the woman recanted, Jay-Z asked a California appeals court to revive his extortion lawsuit against Buzbee, calling it “explosive new evidence” that shows the entire rape case was “built on lies.”

–Sam Smith and Normani will face a jury trial after a judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing them of stealing key elements of their 2019 hit “Dancing With a Stranger” from an earlier track of the same name.

-A judge ruled that Ticketmaster and Live Nation must face a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission claiming the concert giants violated the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act by enabling mass-scale ticket reselling.

–Outkast sued a rapper and producer named “Ovrkast” for trademark infringement, claiming the name is “nearly identical” to their own and that he’d reneged on a promise to change it.

-A man who admitted to using AI music to steal millions in streaming royalties asked a judge to sentence him to no prison time, arguing that “no victim suffered any real harm.”

-A “Mayhem” surfboard brand that unsuccessfully sued Lady Gaga over her Mayhem album argued that simply losing the case does not mean it should be on the hook for the star’s huge legal bills.

–Jermaine Dupri and Jacquees were hit with a copyright lawsuit over claims that their 2023 single “Pick It Up” copied a 1992 song of the same name by the ’90s rap duo Home Team.