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Eminem Licensing Lawsuit Slammed: Instagram & Facebook Call $110M Damages Claim ‘Fanciful’

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Meta says there’s no basis for Eminem’s music publisher to claim that “Lose Yourself” and other iconic tracks were made available to billions of users without permission, urging a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit that seeks an “eye-popping” $110 million in damages.  

Eight Mile Style, a publishing company that owns 243 Eminem compositions, filed suit in May against the juggernaut owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Eight Mile alleged that all three Meta platforms were hosting unlicensed versions of its songs in their music libraries, which allow users to easily add their favorite tracks to the photos and videos they post.

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The publisher is seeking the maximum statutory damages of $150,000 per case of infringement, which, multiplied by 243 songs and three platforms, adds up to a whopping $109.4 million. But Meta said in a Thursday (Sept. 18) motion to dismiss the lawsuit that while Eight Mile’s complaint “is long on rhetoric, it is remarkably short on specifics.”

“Fanciful estimates are not a substitute for well-pleaded facts,” wrote Meta’s lawyers from the firm Mayer Brown. “Belying their extravagant claims, Eight Mile never identifies a single example of an allegedly infringing post or story across any of the three Meta services at issue.”

Meta says that Eight Mile’s failure to identify specific instances of alleged infringement should make the case dead on arrival, since the social media giant can’t be expected to adequately defend itself against such generalized claims.

Thursday’s motion also claims that, beyond these defects in meeting the pleading standards, Eight Mile’s lawsuit simply gets the facts wrong. Meta says it did, in fact, have permission to use Eminem’s songs, per a broader licensing agreement signed in 2020 with Audiam, a digital rights collection agency that supposedly negotiated the deal on behalf of Eight Mile.

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“Far from showing ‘actual knowledge’ of infringement, these allegations instead show that the Audiam licenses covered the compositions — or, at minimum, the parties’ good-faith understanding that the licenses did,” write the Meta attorneys.

Lawyers for Eight Mile Style did not immediately return requests for comment on the motion on Thursday. Eminem does not have any ownership interest in the publishing company and is not involved in the litigation.

Meta’s motion to dismiss argues that Eight Mile Style is “notoriously litigious,” and indeed, the publisher is no stranger to copyright litigation. The company spent years suing Spotify for allegedly failing to obtain proper licenses for its songs, but a federal judge threw out the case in a sharply critical ruling last year. Eight Mile Style is now appealing that decision.


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Justin Bieber Throws Water Bottle Toward Paparazzi During L.A. Date Night With Wife Hailey

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Justin Bieber had yet another tense encounter with paparazzi during a recent date night in Los Angeles with wife Hailey.

On Friday (March 6), the 32-year-old pop superstar lost his cool as photographers swarmed him in a parking garage following a late-night dinner at Sushi Park in West Hollywood.

Footage captured by TMZ shows Justin visibly frustrated, covering his face as he and Hailey made their way toward a black SUV. Once inside, the singer hurled a half-empty Fiji water bottle toward the paparazzi. The bottle didn’t hit anyone and fell to the ground, and the couple quickly drove off.

The incident marks yet another clash between Bieber and photographers. Last summer, ahead of the release of his seventh studio album, Swag, the “Yukon” singer went viral for seemingly confronting intrusive paparazzi, irritably asking, “It’s not clocking to you that I’m standing on business, is it?” The phrase quickly became a widespread meme.

In April 2025, Bieber criticized the “darkness” in L.A., particularly the treatment he faces from paparazzi. At the time, he shared an Instagram video showing his perspective as he stepped outside amid blinding camera flashes, with photographers following his every move and often blocking his path to the car.

“Look at these guys, man,” Bieber’s voice says disapprovingly from behind his camera, while his security guard repeatedly told the paps to back up.

Bieber has long battled with the paparazzi. Since his debut in 2009 at just 15 years old, the “Baby” artist has endured relentless hounding and spoken out against the invasive practice multiple times. The April 2025 incident echoed a similar moment in 2014, when his Ferrari was rear-ended by a persistent photographer.

“There should be laws against what I just experienced,” he posted on X at the time. “We should have learned from the death of Princess Diana…”

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Bad Bunny Performs First Asia Concert at Star-Studded Spotify’s Billions Club in Tokyo

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Bad Bunny made his Asia debut at Spotify’s Billions Club in Japan.

Fresh from his headline performance at Super Bowl LX, the 31-year-old Puerto Rican superstar performed at Tokyo’s Tipstar Dome Chiba for an invite-only show attended by roughly 2,300 of his top Spotify fans in the country on Saturday (March 7).

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During his first-ever performance in Asia, Bad Bunny delivered 17 of his biggest hits, including “DtMF,” “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” “NUEVAYoL” and “EoO.” The artist has a total of 29 songs that have surpassed one billion streams on Spotify.

Adding to the spectacle, the stage was transformed with a Japan-inspired sakura theme, featuring cherry blossom trees, yakisugi wood accents and a glowing sun that illuminated the performance.

The show — Spotify’s first Billions Club Live in the region — also debuted a salsa version of his 2018 hit “MIA,” featuring guest appearances by Puerto Rican musicians Los Pleneros de la Cresta and Los Sobrinos. Other highlights included “Yonaguni,” during which fans sang along to the Japanese lyrics, a salsa rendition of “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” and a surprise appearance by Jowell & Randy for “Safaera.”

The evening opened and closed with music provided by DJ Nasthug. Celebrities in attendance included BLACKPINK‘s Lisa and contemporary artist Takashi Murakami.

Bad Bunny has been shattering numerous records in recent weeks. Last month, he landed a record-breaking 29 simultaneous titles on the Hot Latin Songs chart, including the entire top 25 — led by “DtMF” for a 47th week — while also bagging the top spot on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.

The Latin star’s Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 8 also pulled in 128.2 million viewers, marking the fourth-biggest halftime audience in history.

Check out more photos from Bad Bunny’s Spotify Billions Club event in Tokyo on Instagram here.

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Bruno Mars’ ‘The Romantic’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart

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Bruno Mars notches his second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, and first in more than a decade, as The Romantic debuts atop the tally (dated March 14). The set launches with 186,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending March 5, according to Luminate. Mars was last on top with his second full-length studio album, Unorthodox Jukebox, which climbed to No. 1 in March 2013 (nearly three months after it debuted). In turn, The Romantic is also Mars’ first No. 1-debuting album.

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All told, The Romantic marks the fifth top 10 for Mars, following his An Evening With Silk Sonic collaborative project with Anderson .Paak (No. 2, 2021) and his solo set 24K Magic (No. 2, 2016), Unorthodox Jukebox (No. 1, 2013) and Doo-Wops & Hooligans (No. 2, 2010).

Mars’ gap of nearly 13 years between No. 1s is the longest for any living solo male artist since Paul McCartney returned to the top in 2018 with Egypt Station, 36 years and three months after he was last No. 1 with the third and final week atop the chart with Tug of War on the June 12, 1982-dated chart. (Before Mars, the last male soloist to wait longer to come back to No. 1 was the late Toby Keith, who hit No. 1 after his death, on the Feb. 17, 2024, chart, with 35 Biggest Hits — 14 years and four months after he was last on top with Bullets in the Gun (Oct. 23, 2010).

Also debuting in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200: Gorillaz’s The Mountain, BLACKPINK’s DEADLINE and Mitski’s Nothing’s About To Happen to Me.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 2,500 ad-supported or 1,000 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new March 14, 2026-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on March 10. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X and Instagram.

Of The Romantic’s 186,000 equivalent album units earned in the latest tracking week, album sales comprise 93,500 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 90,500 (equaling 93.95 million on-demand official streams of the set’s nine songs, Mars’ best streaming week for an album; it debuts at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 2,000.

The Romantic’s first-week sales number was bolstered by its availability across 10 vinyl variants, in addition to a standard CD, cassette and digital download. Vinyl sales accounted for 48,000 of the album’s first-week — landing Mars his best week on vinyl ever. All versions of the album contain the same nine songs.

The album was preceded by its lead single, “I Just Might,” which became Mars’ 10th Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 (and first to debut at No. 1) on the Jan. 24-dated chart, and spent its first two weeks atop the list. The track has also been lodged at No. 1 for seven weeks on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot R&B Songs.

Three former No. 1s follow Mars on the Billboard 200: Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS holds at No. 2 with 77,000 equivalent album units earned (down 10%), Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem steps 5-3 (75,000, up 7%) and Don Toliver’s OCTANE pumps 6-4 (66,000, down 3%). Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving rounds out the top five, climbing 7-5 (60,000, down 2%).

Last week’s No. 1, Megan Moroney’s Cloud 9, floats down to No. 6 in its second week (55,000 equivalent album units earned, down 62%).

Gorillaz achieve their sixth top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 with the No. 7 debut of The Mountain. The set launches with 53,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 38,000 (it debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 15,000 (equaling 15.86 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

The album’s first-week sales got a boost from its availability across nine vinyl variants, four CDs, five cassettes, a standard digital download and an iTunes Store-exclusive download edition with one bonus track.

Gorillaz previously visited the top 10 on the Billboard 200 with Cracker Island (No. 3, 2023), The Now Now (No. 4, 2018), Humanz (No. 2, 2017), Plastic Beach (No. 2, 2010) and Demon Days (No. 6, 2005).

The new album was led by a pair of charting titles on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart: “The Happy Dictator,” featuring Sparks (No. 43 peak last September), and “The Manifesto,” featuring Trueno and Proof (No. 49 peak last October).

BLACKPINK scores its third top 10 on the Billboard 200 as DEADLINE debuts at No. 8 with 52,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 41,000 (it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 11,000 (equaling 11.46 million on-demand official streams of the set’s five songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

DEADLINE marks the return of the pop quartet to the Billboard 200 after more than three years. The group’s last release was BORN PINK, which marked the act’s first No. 1 (debuting atop the Oct. 1, 2022-dated chart). Since then, the four members (Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rosé) have all released solo album projects, all of which have charted on a Billboard album ranking.

The new album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across 13 CD variants (all containing collectible items such as photocards and posters, with some items randomized). CD sales comprise 94% of the album’s first-week sales, with the remainder sold from digital downloads.

DEADLINE was preceded by the Hot 100-charting single “JUMP,” which peaked at No. 28 last July and spent 10 weeks on the list — the most weeks on the chart among the group’s 10 charted titles.

Taylor Swift’s chart-topping The Life of a Showgirl is a non-mover at No. 9 on the latest Billboard 200 with just under 43,000 equivalent album units earned for the week (down 3%).

Closing out the top 10 of the Billboard 200 is Mitski’s Nothing’s About To Happen to Me, debuting at No. 10 with nearly 43,000 equivalent album units earned — the artist’s best week ever by units. Of that sum, album sales comprise 31,000 (her best sales week ever; it debuts at No. 4 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 12,000 (equaling 12.16 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

First-week sales of the album were aided by its availability across seven vinyl variants (including a signed edition), two CDs and two cassettes, and a standard digital download. Vinyl purchases accounted for 69% of the set’s overall opening-week sales.

Nothing’s About To Happen to Me is the second top 10 on the Billboard 200 for Mitski, following 2022’s Laurel Hell (No. 5).

The new album was preceded by the charting hit “Where’s My Phone?” which hit No. 11 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart dated March 7 and No. 38 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs in January.

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

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