THE BIG STORY: Bad Bunny won a major victory in the sprawling copyright lawsuit over the dembow rhythm — the boom-ch-boom-chick beat heard in nearly all reggaeton songs.
The case, filed way back in 2021, has quietly grown into a behemoth with massive stakes for the music industry. Filed by reggae duo Steely & Clevie over claims that they essentially invented dembow, the lawsuit targets Bunny, Karol G, Daddy Yankee and dozens of other artists over nearly 2,000 songs that allegedly used the famous beat without permission.
This summer, a judge ruled that the case must go to trial. That would have meant years of more complex litigation, but the implications would have been even more complicated. Critics have warned that a victory for Steely & Clevie could require anyone using reggaeton’s signature beat to pay them a licensing fee, giving them an unprecedented stranglehold over an entire musical genre.
But in a rare move last week, the same judge reversed himself and overturned the earlier ruling sending the case to trial. He was swayed by Bunny’s recent argument that Steely & Clevie were improperly claiming a “Frankenstein copyright” over the dem bow rhythm.
For more on the ruling and what it means, go read our full story here.
You’re reading the Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday, subscribe here.
Other top stories this week..
–Lil Durk’s murder-for-hire trial wrapped up after the defense presented its case, including calling a witness who called the key government cooperator a “liar and a thief.” Watch out for a verdict this week.
-Sean “Diddy” Combs could be home from prison earlier than expected, according to federal inmate records that showed his release date was moved up.
-In other Diddy news, a judge ruled he can pursue defamation claims over a NewsNation broadcast suggesting he laced baby oil with drugs to incapacitate alleged victims.
-Live Nation rival AEG urged a federal judge to reject the Department of Justice’s antitrust settlement with the live entertainment giant and instead order it to sell Ticketmaster.
-The Trump administration sided with AI firms in a first-ever court filing arguing they are shielded from lawsuits when they use millions of copyrighted works to build their models.
–Alanis Morissette filed a lawsuit claiming she is the victim of a “calculated blackmail campaign” by her former tour manager Keren Urinov, an Israeli live music executive.
