This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law. BillboardProgives you one-stop summaries of big new cases, important decisions, and all the fun stuff in between.

This week: Young Thug ends years-long YSL RICO case with a guilty plea that didn’t result in prison time; UMG accuses distributor TuneCore of “copyright infringement on an industrial scale”; Ed Sheeran wins a lawsuit over “Let’s Get It On”; Metro Boomin faces sexual assault lawsuit; and much more.

BIG STORY: Young Thug Goes Home

And so it’s all over Young Thug. More than two years after he was arrested in a massive gang case in Atlanta, the Grammy-winning rapper pleaded guilty and was sentenced to just prison time. 15 years probation without jail time – a stunning end to a legal saga that shook the music industry.

Pitching prosecutors in America’s rap capital against one of hip-hop’s biggest stars, the case against Thug and his so-called “YSL” gang has raised big questions about the fairness of the criminal justice system; about violent personalities in modern hip-hop; and about prosecutors’ use of rap lyrics as evidence.

Thug, a chart-topping rapper and producer who helped shape the sound of hip-hop in the 2010s, was accused of being the ringleader of a violent gang that caused “mayhem” in the Atlanta area for nearly a decade. But the case was messy from the start, with endless lists of witnesses, procedural missteps, a prison stabbing and a bizarre incident in which a judge was removed from the case.

How did Young Thug get out of this mess (there was no end to the trial in sight, and it would last until 2025) to walk away a free man? Go read mine In-depth look at the YSL endgame to learn.

Other top news this week…

“THE GREAT PIRACY” – Evrensel Music Group filed a lawsuit against TuneCore and parent company Believe over “massive” copyright infringement allegations accusing the digital distributor of serving as a “hub” for the widespread dissemination of illegal copies of songs across streaming platforms and social media services Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga et al. UMG claims TuneCore, which is seeking a whopping $500 million in damages, has pursued “rapid growth” of DIY distribution services while ignoring “rampant piracy” among its users: “Believe is a company built on industrial-scale copyright infringement,” the lawsuit said. Believe and TuneCore said in a statement that they “strongly deny these allegations” and will “fight them” in court.

“MUSICAL BUILDING BLOCKS” – Ed Sheeran to win a decision He confirmed in a federal appeals court that his work “Thinking Out Loud” did not infringe his copyright. Marvin Gaye‘s “Let’s Get It On” effectively ends one of the few cases of sonic similarities between the two hits. The lawsuit alleged that Sheeran copied a chord progression and rhythm from Gaye’s iconic track, but the appeals court said the two songs shared only “basic musical building blocks” that are “ubiquitous in pop music,” giving them a “monopoly.” to any songwriter, it “threatens to stifle creativity.”

METRO CLAIMS – Superstar producer Metro Boomin was shot with a civil lawsuit Following allegations that he raped a woman named Vanessa LeMaistre and impregnated her during a drug- and drink-fueled incident at a recording studio in 2016. The lawsuit alleged that the alleged assault was referenced in a song he produced. Metro does not write the lyrics or rap himself and the lyrics in question are his own. 21 Wild And Compensate.

TEKASHI WAS ARRESTED – Tekashi 6ix9ine (Daniel Hernandez) arrested and charged Amid allegations that he violated a plea agreement with prosecutors in 2018 when he infamously agreed to testify against his former gang mates in Brooklyn. The provocative rapper had just six months left on the five-year supervised release term he was secured under that deal, but prosecutors charged him with traveling to Las Vegas without permission and failing a drug test. Tekashi denied the charges at the hearing, but the judge who signed the plea agreement said he had “acted in complete violation of the law” and ordered him detained until his next hearing date later this month.

MEGAN THEE FIGHTER – Megan Thee Stallion She filed a lawsuit against a YouTuber and social media personality named Milagro Gramz (Milagro Elizabeth Cooper), accusing her. “We expose lies” About the criminal case arising from the incident in 2020 Tory Lanez He shot Megan in the foot. Describing Gramz as Lanez’s “mouthpiece and puppet,” the superstar appeared determined to use the lawsuit as a warning shot against other bloggers who allegedly shared misinformation about the high-profile case: “Enough is enough.”

“TRANSPARENT AND UNFAIR” – Federal appeals court rules against Live Nation and Ticketmaster should face a class action lawsuit They claim they abused their dominance to charge “extraordinarily high” prices to hundreds of thousands of ticket buyers. In doing so, the court rejected Live Nation’s argument that fans had signed agreements requiring them to resolve disputes through private arbitration. The court called these agreements not only “unlawful and unenforceable” but also “transparent and unfair”; “poorly prepared and full of typos”; and “incomprehensibly dense, complex, and internally contradictory.”

CASSIE VIDEO CONFLICT – Prosecutors handling the case Sean “Diddy” Combs Said they had a federal judge I’m not left behind Leaking of infamous 2016 surveillance video showing the rapper attacking his ex-girlfriend Cassie VenturaHe argued that such accusations were merely gamesmanship by Diddy’s defense team to try to “disappear a damning piece of evidence.”

DIDDY’S ACCUSER’S MASK WAS REMOVED – In one of the many civil lawsuits filed against Combs, a federal judge ruled that one of his accusers I can’t use The “Jane Doe” moniker says her right to avoid “public scrutiny” and “embarrassment” does not trump Diddy’s right to defend himself against such “disgusting” allegations. Although the decision is not binding on the other justices, it could affect how they handle many other lawsuits filed by Doe plaintiffs against Combs.

MADLIB / EGON – Hip-hop producer madlib He filed a lawsuit against his former manager Eothen “Egon” Alapatt on Allegations of “self-interest” claimed that the manager abused his role to profit excessively from Madlib’s music and to commit other alleged crimes. The lawsuit alleges that Egon believed he could “continue to profit from Madlib’s work and goodwill because there was nothing Madlib could do about it” and demanded that the artist “buy him out” if he wanted to end the relationship.