Tag Archives: music

Working Out a Settlement

Work it out

Most of us have seen the commercials advertising one of the most sought-after at-home fitness equipment products.  While the interactive live videos on the Peloton screens are intended to pump up the energy of the user, the music and workouts help eliminate, what some people might consider, the “boring” element of exercise.  Although this brand of stationary bike is seriously one of the best in the industry, with prices starting at $2,245, the company has seen a slight decline in its stock.  A possible cause for this drop could be the lawsuit surrounding allegations that Peloton streamed over 2,400 songs in their workout videos without prior authorization. Continue reading →

Elvis’ Money Has Left the Building

All shook up

If Lisa Marie Presley gets what she wants, her former business manager will be dancing to the jailhouse rock. The daughter of music & American icon Elvis Presley is suing Barry Siegel for allegedly squandering away the Presley family’s hundred million dollar fortune. The lawsuit, filed in California, states that the Provident Financial Management and specifically Siegel “enriched himself with exorbitant fees”. The business manager then turned around and counter-sued for $800,000 and claims that Lisa Marie has extravagant taste and poor spending habits. Reports claim that the Presley fortune, once worth over $100m USD, is now down to around $15,000. A main recommendation from Siegel to Lisa Marie was an investment in the financial firm behind American Idol, an investment that eventually went bankrupt and turned about $25m in stock to about $500k almost overnight. Read More

Young Entrepreneur Plays with Fyre

Peril in paradise

The ever-growing festival craze sparked the initiative of entrepreneur Billy McFarland to establish a new festival outside of the country, in the Bahamas. Other successful festivals remain grounded in the US, such as Coachella in Indio, CA, Firefly in Dover, DE, and Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN. While those US festivals exhibit popular attendance with minimal, yet organized, accommodations, McFarland’s festival has resulted in a bundle of lawsuits. Read more

A person is sitting at a table displaying a GoldieBlox kit, which includes a booklet and a construction set. A sign with illustrations of diverse girls is visible, promoting the engineering toy. The tablecloth is purple.

A Musical Nuisance

A toy with a price

Concluding an ongoing legal battle over a toy company’s potentially illegal use of a hit song created by the musical group Beastie Boys, the two parties have officially settled the lawsuit. According to a spokesperson for GoldieBlox, the settlement includes “the issuance of an apology posted to GoldieBlox’s website, [and] payment by GoldieBlox, based on a percentage of its revenues, to one or more charities selected by [the] Beastie Boys that support science, technology, engineering and mathematics education for girls (Blistein, Rolling Stone, 2014). The Beastie Boys song “Girls,” was first released in 1987 and included lyrics such as “Girls to do to this dishes…Girls to do the laundry” (Blistein, Rolling Stone, 2014).  GoldieBlox altered the catchy song’s original lyrics to help promote the company’s incentive of empowering young girls to become more involved in the sciences and engineering industries. GoldieBlox’s video for the Princess Machine was eventually removed from the internet but not before the video went viral and garnered over seven million views.

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Rap Superstar Sued for 30 Million Dollars

Musical feud

Wig designer Terrence Davidson is suing Hip Hop star Nicki Minaj for 30 million dollars. “Terrence Davidson filed suit Friday in district court in Atlanta alleging that the star not only stole his wig designs, but also cost him a potential reality show deal that he was discouraged from pursuing”. Davidson began working for Minaj in 2010 as her Hair stylist, and also began designing wigs for her to wear in her performances. The rapper has since become increasingly famous and known for her eccentric style, such as her pink and platinum blonde wigs. Davidson discovered that the superstar is now selling wigs for profit on her website, which are essentially duplicates from the various looks he initially created for her. Read More