Latin Music Litigation | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: Billboard dot Com has this article up. Here are Latin

0:03 Speaker 1: music's biggest lawsuits and legal cases, including Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee,

0:10 Speaker 1: and more. I remember Daddy Yankee, and of course we

0:13 Speaker 1: all know Bad Bunny. It says here. Latin music stars

0:16 Speaker 1: are facing big legal battles, including a massive reggae tone case,

0:20 Speaker 1: a nasty divorce turned rico suit, and a looming fight

0:24 Speaker 1: over a leaked sex tape. Oh my goodness, Well, so

0:27 Speaker 1: much going on in the world of Latin music. For

0:30 Speaker 1: some reason, that seems to be the most litigious genre

0:34 Speaker 1: at the moment, which is why we're talking about it.

0:37 Speaker 1: There's always like hip hop always has a lot of lawsuits,

0:40 Speaker 1: and you know, and there's always there's always lawsuits in

0:42 Speaker 1: every genre of music. But right now Latin music seems

0:45 Speaker 1: to be where a lot of attorneys are able to

0:48 Speaker 1: charge legal fees. It says here. Latin music is as

0:52 Speaker 1: popular as ever, which is true. As a genre, it's

0:54 Speaker 1: really exploded. So it makes sense that stars like Bad

0:58 Speaker 1: Bunny are embroiled in a growing number of major legal

1:01 Speaker 1: battles in US courts. As the old music lawyer adage goes,

1:06 Speaker 1: where there's a hit, there's a writ In other words,

1:10 Speaker 1: where there's where there's hit songs, there's money to be

1:13 Speaker 1: made and someone to sue very often. The genre has

1:17 Speaker 1: boomed in recent years, becoming the fastest growing core music

1:22 Speaker 1: genre in the US and hitting a record breaking one

1:26 Speaker 1: point four billion in revenue in twenty twenty four, making

1:31 Speaker 1: the genre's third consecutive year passing one billion dollars. The

1:39 Speaker 1: Recording Industry Association of America's Matt Bass said in an

1:44 Speaker 1: October report, quote, Latin music is the in the US

1:48 Speaker 1: continues to gain popularity and generate generate increased value thanks

1:56 Speaker 1: to the incredible artists whose music connects across language and

2:01 Speaker 1: geographical barriers. Unquote. All that explosive growth again, this is

2:07 Speaker 1: from Billboard. All that explosive, explosive growth has been fueled

2:11 Speaker 1: not only by the global superstardom of Bad Bunny, who

2:15 Speaker 1: played this year's Super Bowl and cleaned up at the

2:17 Speaker 1: Grammy Awards, but also by the rise of artists like

2:20 Speaker 1: Colombian star Carol g or Carole. It might be Corole.

2:26 Speaker 1: I'm not sure, ka r o L. It looks like Carol,

2:29 Speaker 1: but it might probably not. Carol doesn't sound like a

2:32 Speaker 1: particularly Latin sounding name, does it, Carol, it's probably corole

2:38 Speaker 1: g and regional Mexican powerhouses, and I'm sure I'm going

2:41 Speaker 1: to butcher these apologize in advance. Fuere's a Regeda and

2:46 Speaker 1: or Regeta and pezo Pluma or peso pluma. But with

2:52 Speaker 1: great success comes great disputes. Reggaetne stars like Bad Bunny

2:57 Speaker 1: himself for facing unprecedented liation over how key elements of

3:02 Speaker 1: their music are covered by copyright laws. This is where

3:06 Speaker 1: it gets interesting and something we talk about all the

3:08 Speaker 1: time on the show. This always comes up, copyright infringement,

3:11 Speaker 1: copyright laws, intellectual property, all of it. Especially with the

3:16 Speaker 1: rise of AI. Other big names like Dell Records founder

3:20 Speaker 1: Angel DVR are fighting criminal charges that could put them

3:25 Speaker 1: behind bars for years. Still, others like Daddy Yankee are

3:30 Speaker 1: using the courts to bring their own stunning allegations against others.

3:34 Speaker 1: To get you up to speed, here's Billboard's quick guide

3:37 Speaker 1: to Latin music's major lawsuits, criminal cases, and legal battles.

3:43 Speaker 1: We break down five major cases and everything you need

3:46 Speaker 1: to know about them, followed by five more key legal

3:49 Speaker 1: disputes to watch in the months ahead. So I don't

3:52 Speaker 1: know that we'll get through all these. We'll try to

3:54 Speaker 1: speed through these because there's a lot here. Okay, so

3:57 Speaker 1: reggae tones jaw dropping copyright case, this is the first one.

4:02 Speaker 1: There is no bigger Latin music legal battle than the

4:05 Speaker 1: sprawling copyright lawsuit over the origins of reggaetnes dembo rhythm.

4:13 Speaker 1: The boom of boom boom chick, boom of boom chick

4:18 Speaker 1: used in nearly Oh yeah, it used in nearly every

4:20 Speaker 1: song in the genre. Yeah, you know exactly what I'm

4:23 Speaker 1: even though I know exactly even though I'm butchered it.

4:25 Speaker 1: We all know exactly what that is because we all

4:28 Speaker 1: hear it. You know, if you're in Manchester on a

4:31 Speaker 1: summer day when everyone's got their windows down in their cars,

4:33 Speaker 1: you'll certainly hear that coming out of many many cars.

4:37 Speaker 1: We hear it in our neighborhood quite a bit. That

4:39 Speaker 1: If you don't know what that is, let me see

4:41 Speaker 1: if I can do it again, but but not do

4:45 Speaker 1: it so clumsily. The boom che boom chick, boom che

4:48 Speaker 1: boom chick use. And I wish I knew how to beatbox,

4:52 Speaker 1: I could replicate that perfectly. But you all know what

4:55 Speaker 1: that is. The case claims that crucial Now, this is interesting.

5:00 Speaker 1: I've wondered about this. So the case here claims that

5:03 Speaker 1: that crucial element was essentially stolen from a single nineteen

5:09 Speaker 1: eighty nine song, and that it's time for the music

5:12 Speaker 1: business to pay up. So that beat, that rhythm that

5:15 Speaker 1: you hear in all those reggaetone songs that you hear

5:18 Speaker 1: coming out of everybody's cars in the summertime, that's really

5:22 Speaker 1: that young. I thought it was older than Somebody has

5:24 Speaker 1: traced that back to a single from nineteen eighty nine

5:27 Speaker 1: and says pay me. The scale of the case is staggering.

5:32 Speaker 1: It targets bad Bunny Corol, I still say, I'm gonna

5:35 Speaker 1: say Corol, G Daddy Yankee and more than one hundred

5:38 Speaker 1: and fifty other artists as defendants, plus units of all

5:43 Speaker 1: three major music companies, claiming that nearly two thousand of

5:48 Speaker 1: their songs were illegal. If successful, it would mean that

5:52 Speaker 1: almost all reggaetone artists would need to pay licensing fees

5:58 Speaker 1: to use are aspect of the genre. I don't think

6:02 Speaker 1: this lawsuits going to be successful to you, especially, I

6:07 Speaker 1: think it's that young, especially since now there will be

6:12 Speaker 1: dispute over this detail. By the way, We're definitely not

6:14 Speaker 1: gonna get through all these, but this one's fascinating to me.

6:16 Speaker 1: We might just stay on this one for a while.

6:20 Speaker 1: Gene Simmons was saying it was in you know, when

6:24 Speaker 1: he the little controversy it blew over fairly quickly about

6:28 Speaker 1: who wrote the song Beth, and he was saying Peter

6:30 Speaker 1: didn't really write it, and Jane was making some rather

6:32 Speaker 1: ignorant comments about Peter's not a real musician because he's

6:35 Speaker 1: a drummer, so he's not technically a musician because you can't.

6:39 Speaker 1: You can't copyright, you can't trademark a beat like you

6:42 Speaker 1: can a melody or something, which actually is definitely not true.

6:45 Speaker 1: He's wrong about that. I'm sure there are very specific,

6:50 Speaker 1: very specific beats that have been copy copyright Well, that's

6:56 Speaker 1: you're talking about a bassline. But but I'm sure I

6:58 Speaker 1: can't think of a really gonna be a baseline and

7:01 Speaker 1: a drum No, but but but how can you call

7:05 Speaker 1: a drummer not a musician the same? Right? His comment

7:10 Speaker 1: was very very ignorant and he does know better. But

7:13 Speaker 1: but but I'm sure, I'm sure it's happened. I'm sure

7:17 Speaker 1: there have been specific beats have been copyrighted. But to

7:21 Speaker 1: but to, I mean, how's this gonna going? How are

7:23 Speaker 1: you gonna You're gonna sue all? You're gonna basically sue

7:26 Speaker 1: an entire genre over over a beat that is very

7:29 Speaker 1: common money grap So it says here. As experts previously

7:36 Speaker 1: told Billboard, the case could have a disruptive effect on

7:39 Speaker 1: reggae tone Yeah no kidding, a booming genre that's risen

7:44 Speaker 1: alongside Bad Bunny from the clubs of Puerto Rico to

7:46 Speaker 1: the very top of the global music business. This case

7:50 Speaker 1: is jaw dropping, said Jennifer Jenkins, a Duke University law professor. Quote.

7:54 Speaker 1: If they win, this would confer a monopoly over an

7:58 Speaker 1: entire genre. Vote. A judge refused to dismiss the case

8:02 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, and following a key hearing in December,

8:06 Speaker 1: it's now primed for a major ruling on crucial questions,

8:10 Speaker 1: which will determine whether the lawsuit is dismissed or can

8:13 Speaker 1: move ahead to a jury trial. Stay tuned. I predict

8:16 Speaker 1: it's dismissed. I hope though, because that would be quite

8:19 Speaker 1: a bit of waste of money, waste of time. Yes,

8:23 Speaker 1: we'll try to privolous. Oh yeah, we'll try to get

8:25 Speaker 1: a couple more of these and Daddy Yankees bombshell divorce battle.

8:28 Speaker 1: I don't even remember what Daddy Yankee's big hit was.

8:31 Speaker 1: I mean, we're like in the Yankees. No, no, damn no,

8:34 Speaker 1: this is damn Yankees is not a Latin band. Oh yeah, sorry, no,

8:38 Speaker 1: Daddy Yankee, Daddy Yankee, I don't remember what the big

8:41 Speaker 1: hit were. I remember, I can't hear anything out of

8:42 Speaker 1: my writing, I know. In December twenty twenty four, Daddy

8:45 Speaker 1: Yankee again this is from Billboard, filed for divorce from

8:48 Speaker 1: his wife of thirty years. The two have been duking

8:51 Speaker 1: it out in court ever since, not just over the

8:53 Speaker 1: marriage dissolution, but the bombshell accusations of stolen money, defamation,

8:59 Speaker 1: and racketeering. A few weeks after the divorce started, Yankee

9:03 Speaker 1: sought an injunction over accusations that I'm gonna butcher this. MERIDIESE.

9:08 Speaker 1: Gonzales had withdrawn tens of millions from his El Cartel Records,

9:15 Speaker 1: his record company. Then in March twenty twenty five, he

9:18 Speaker 1: fouled the lawsuit, claiming he discovered mismanagement and a defamatory

9:23 Speaker 1: campaign by Gonzalez, though that case later settled. Daddy Yankee

9:27 Speaker 1: went nuclear in December, filing a Rico lawsuit against Gonzalez

9:31 Speaker 1: and his former manager Rayfie Pina or Pena, of scheming

9:37 Speaker 1: to steal songwriting royalties during a nearly decade long racketing

9:41 Speaker 1: conspiracy in which they quote systematically inappropriate misappropriated publishing income unquote.

9:49 Speaker 1: Her lawyer denied the accusations at the time, telling Billboard

9:53 Speaker 1: they were a fabrication created by Daddy Yankee to gain

9:56 Speaker 1: a tactical advantage in their divorce proceedings, but the case

9:59 Speaker 1: remained pending. Uh. Okay, this one we're gonna skip. I'm

10:05 Speaker 1: gonna we have limited time. We're gonna get one more in,

10:07 Speaker 1: but I'm gonna find I want to find one that

10:10 Speaker 1: looks like it's quick and uh, the sex tape one

10:14 Speaker 1: will skip because it's a Saturday morning morning. Yeah, all right,

10:19 Speaker 1: let's do this other bad bunny one quickly. Yes, I

10:23 Speaker 1: was gonna re mentioned mosaic. Yeah, let's do that. I'll

10:28 Speaker 1: tell you what. We'll share the link out to this

10:31 Speaker 1: article on social media because there are some other interesting cases.

10:34 Speaker 1: But I think we we tackled the h the two

10:36 Speaker 1: that are the most interesting. But it's at billboard dot com.

10:39 Speaker 1: The title of the article is here are Latin music's

10:42 Speaker 1: biggest lawsuits and legal cases, including Bad Bunny, Daddy, Yankee,

10:46 Speaker 1: and more So. We do love a good uh, a

10:49 Speaker 1: good lawsuit in the music industry. It's always fascinating and

10:52 Speaker 1: there's always somebody issuing somebody. It's a very re litigious industry.