While Sabrina Carpenter is one of the biggest pop stars of the moment, even she has gotten starstruck.

The singer sat down for a recent interview with W Magazine, where she revealed a particularly monumental moment of her pre-teen years. “Oh god—I had a really dangerous Zac Efron phase, when he was in Hairspray,” she told the publication. “I was 12 years old, and I was on a beach for the Fourth of July. He would never remember this, but I saw him and said, ‘I’m a big fan of your work!’ He gave me a hug. And I remember thinking, Oh my god—he wasn’t wearing a shirt and he gave me a hug! I was like, This is amazing. I’m never washing my body!”

Carpenter surely has that effect on others now, given her recent breakout success. The singer hit a career milestone this week as her latest studio album, Short n’ Sweet, topped the Billboard 200 albums chart, marking her first leader on the tally.

Short n’ Sweet is Carpenter’s seventh charting album but first to reach the top 20. Her first visit to the chart came in 2015 with Eyes Wide Open, peaking at No. 43. Until this week, Carpenter’s best chart rank came with the 2022 release Emails I Can’t Send, which debuted and peaked at No. 23. 

She also simultaneously has three songs in the top five of the Hot 100 songs chart. At No. 2 is Carpenter’s “Taste,” followed by “Please Please Please,” which boosted up from 9-3 after it became her first No. 1 in June. “Espresso” jumps 7-4 after previously peaking at No. 3. 

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

The limited eight-episode drama series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, starring Kevin Hart, is making its debut on Peacock on Thursday (Sept. 5).

The series is set in Atlanta and is based on true events that took place on Oct. 26, 1970, the night Muhammad Ali made his famous return to the ring against Jerry Quarry. According to People, the fight was not only a significant event in both sports and culture, but also a place where celebrities and notable figures would come together from all over the world.

The cast includes Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle, and Terrence Howard. With guest stars including Chloe Bailey, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Dexter Darden, Lori Harvey, and Sinqua Walls. This series is Executive Produced by Kevin Hart, Will Packer, Sabrina Wind, Bryan Smiley, Mike Stein, Conal Byrne, Carrie Lieberman, Jeff Keating, Lars Jacobson, Erika L. Johnson, and Mike Daniels. Episodes 101, 102, 107 and 108 were directed and executive produced by Craig Brewer.

Shaye Ogbonna, known for The Chi and God’s Country, serves as the creator, writer, showrunner, and executive producer.

In a recent interview on the Today show, Chloe Bailey and Lori Harvey shared their excitement about being a part of this series. Bailey plays the role of ‘Lena Mosley,’ a girl who is a part of the heist. “I had to pinch myself every time I was going to set and it was just really remarkable sharing the screen… I can’t wait for everyone to see such a great story being brought to live with such a great cast,” she said. Harvey is making her acting debut as ‘Lola Falana’ in the series, a popstar who is drawn into the chaos. “It’s very surreal,” she said.

Keep scrolling for ways to stream Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist on Peacock.

How to Watch Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist on Peacock

Peacock will debut the first three episodes of Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist exclusively on Peacock starting today (Sept. 5). The remaining five episodes will be released one at a time every Thursday.

Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist is now streaming on Peacock starting at $7.99/month. You can get it for just $4/99 for 4 months with the CODE: TGIF. The offer ends on Friday, Sept. 6.

Are you subscribed? If you’re not subscribed, plans start at $7.99 for Peacock Premium and $13.99 for the commercial-free Peacock Premium Plus.

Peacock offers a student discount which drops the price down to just $1.99/month. Click here for more Peacock streaming deals.

Peacock also gives you access to a ton of original shows, movies and more. Some of the exclusives offered include Bel-Air,  Love UndercoverIn the KnowApple Never FallsThe TraitorsTed, Wolf Like MeTwisted Metaland Poker Face. If you’re a Bravo fan, Vanderpump RulesBelow DeckSummer HouseThe Real Housewives and other Bravo hits are streaming on Peacock, along with movies such as Kung Fu Panda 4Back to BlackOppenheimerLisa FrankensteinMigrationFive Nights at Freddy’s and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Maria Becerra took to social media on Sept. 5 to share a personal update with her millions of followers.

Posting a photo of herself in a hospital setting and holding hands with her partner J Rei, also a recording artist, the Argentine hitmaker wrote, “Yesterday I had to undergo surgery because I was having an ectopic pregnancy. Fortunately, everything went very well and we are already at home with Juli, recovering surrounded by lots of love.”

She continued to explain that the “unexpected moment” was preceded by pain in her abdomen following rehearsals. “We went to the emergency room where we both found out that the pregnancy was ectopic and with hemorrhage. It was very hard emotionally everything we went through since we were looking forward to being parents and having a baby (which is still in our future plans since we have plenty of love and a whole life ahead of us). Thankfully the amazing medical team and the support of our family and closest friends helped us feel strong and in good hands.”

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The “Automático” singer is currently on a short break from her world tour, which is set to resume Sept. 12 in Lima, Peru and, in October, she will kick off the North American leg of the stint with stops in New York, L.A. and Dallas, among other major cities. Becerra is also set to participate in Billboard Latin Music Week 2024, as announced back in July.

“I know some of you may have heard and are worried, that’s why we are telling you, we don’t want false news to be circulating at this delicate time. I want you to know that I am fine and that as the doctors recommended, I will be returning little by little to my routine and to work. Thank you for your messages of support, they really mean a lot to us.”

Read Becerra’s heartfelt post in Spanish here.

Spotify has defeated a long-running lawsuit that claimed Eminem’s music was streamed illegally “billions” of times on the platform, winning a ruling that sharply criticized the rapper’s publisher for filing the case in the first place.

Eminem’s publisher, Eight Mile Style, sued Spotify in 2019, claiming the streamer had made hundreds of the rapper’s songs available without proper licenses. That included mega-hits like “Lose Yourself,” which has been streamed more than 1 billion times on the service.

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But in a decision last month, a federal judge dismissed those accusations entirely, ruling that Eight Mile had essentially manufactured a lawsuit for its own gain. The publisher knew for years that its songs were being played on Spotify, the judge wrote, but had chosen to do nothing in order to build a more lucrative legal case against the streamer.

“Eight Mile Style was not a hapless victim,” Judge Aleta A. Trauger wrote. “While Spotify’s handling of composer copyrights appears to have been seriously flawed, any right to recover damages based on those flaws belongs to those innocent rights holders who were genuinely harmed, not ones who, like Eight Mile Style, had every opportunity to set things right and simply chose not to do so for no apparent reason, other than that being the victim of infringement pays better than being an ordinary licensor.”

An attorney for Eight Mile Style did not immediately return a request for comment on the decision. Eminem himself was not involved in the case.

At the center of the long legal battle is the chaotic system that governed streaming royalties in the U.S. for much of the 2010s, in which streamers like Spotify often failed to pay the proper rights holders. That messy situation was mostly fixed by the 2018 enactment of the federal Music Modernization Act (MMA), which created a single blanket license for streamers to pay.

The MMA largely immunized streamers like Spotify from lawsuits over past misdeeds, wiping the slate clean if they paid for the blanket license and complied with other requirements. But a year after the statute was enacted, Eight Mile sued anyway — arguing, among other things, that the landmark law itself was unconstitutional because it violated due process and negated the company’s copyrights.

In her ruling last month, Judge Trauger entirely avoided those lofty constitutional questions about the MMA, saying she would leave them “for a future case involving an appropriate plaintiff.” But like other aspects of her ruling, she suggested that “teeing up a constitutional showdown” had been another “strategic” decision by Eight Mile aimed at securing a bigger payout.

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“The MMA framework was the culmination of what may have been one of the most high-stakes policymaking efforts in the history of copyright, and whether that framework survives has implications for the economy of music that go far beyond the rights of any individual artist, even a popular one like Eminem,” the judge wrote. “A lawsuit that imperiled the MMA could cost Spotify a great deal more than any one artist could ever claim — and could, potentially, justify a more generous settlement.”

In technical terms, Judge Trauger’s ruling cited the legal doctrine of equitable estoppel, which bars litigants from behaving unfairly to win advantage in court cases. In applying that rule to Eight Mile, she said the publisher “improperly chose the cultivation of infringement damages over the proper functioning of the copyright system.”

Eight Mile clearly knew that some of its most valuable IP was being used by Spotify, the judge wrote, and the entire lawsuit could have been avoided if Eight Mile had “simply sent a single, clear cease-and-desist letter.”  But she said the company instead “simply allowed its rights to be violated.”

“If Eight Mile Style had come forward to contest the status quo, it would have brought this situation to a much quicker end, but it did not,” Judge Trauger wrote. “The only plausible reason for this course of action is that … allowing infringement to continue on a large scale is more economically beneficial to the purported victim than the licit streaming economy would be.”

Even if Eight Mile’s accusations against Spotify had been legally valid, the judge ruled that the damages wouldn’t have been Spotify’s to pay. Instead, she ruled that the liability would have belonged to Kobalt, because the company had signed a licensing deal with Spotify for the Eminem songs at issue and had agreed to indemnify the streamer for any such legal problems.

As it was, that question was largely moot because the judge had mostly rejected Eight Mile’s lawsuit. But she ruled that Kobalt would likely need to cover Spotify’s legal expenses incurred in defending the lawsuit — likely a sizeable sum after five years of litigation. That issue will be subject to future proceedings.

A representative for Spotify did not immediately return requests for comment. A representative for Kobalt declined to comment.

Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. 

This week: The Marias score a breakout hit with help from a superstar cosign, Bossman Dlow makes approximately his 73rd Trending Up appearance of 2024 and Surf Curse are back with another new hit from the decade prior.

Marias Put Internet on “Notice” With Help From Billie Eilish

It’s been one of the feel-good stories about one of the feel-bad hits of the year. indie-pop favorites The Marias, who song in both English and Spanish and previously made the Hot 100 in 2022 as guests on the dreamy “Otro Atardecer” from Bad Bunny’s blockbuster Un Verano Sin Ti album, have seen their “No One Noticed” slowly get massive on TikTok over the past few months, with audiences finding the sighing summer-bummer anthem (especially the “Come on, don’t leave me it can’t be that easy, babe/
If you believe me I guess I’ll get on a plane” breakdown section) invaluable in soundtracking their seasonal sadness. Among the more high-profile of those fans: alt-pop superstar Billie Eilish, whose July 17 posting on her IG stories of her singing along to the song helped accelerate its viral velocity.

For the chart week ending July 18, the song scored 1.5 million official on-demand streams, according to Luminate. But following the Eilish share, the song has grown between 10 and 30 percent in streams in each of the six weeks since — reaching 4.7 million for the week ending Aug. 29, a 223% gain in total. The song has since climbed to No. 12 on Billboard‘s Hot Rock Songs chart and even jumps 13-6 on this week’s Bubbling Under Hot 100, getting that much closer to joining the four still-charting hits from Billie’s own Hit Me Hard and Soft on the Hot 100 proper. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER


Bossman Dlow Adds Another Hit to His Arsenal with Luh Tyler’s “2 Slippery” 

Another week, another hit for Bossman Dlow, one of 2024’s biggest breakout stars. The Florida rapper has previously appeared in the column this year, and he’s back again as the featured artist on “2 Slippery,” a Luh Tyler song that’s picking up steam on streaming. 

According to Luminate, “2 Slippery” earned over 4.5 million streams during the week of Aug. 23-29. That marks a whopping 82% increase from a month ago (July 25-Aug. 1), during which the song pulled around 2.48 million streams. Streams for “2 Slippery” have increased ebery week for the past month, with the biggest increase coming last week. That 4.5 million figure was a 42.3% increase from the 3.17 million streams the song pulled the week prior (Aug. 16-22).

TikTok has unsurprisingly been the song’s biggest source of traction. A trend giving recognition to the “big dawgs” among us – more specifically, men whose height starts with a “6” and weight starts with a “2.” Users who fit that description film themselves mouthing these lyrics from Bossman Dlow’s verse: “Tired of fuckin’ with them lames, come fuck with some bosses, baby/ She don’t want no puppy, she want a big dog.” On TikTok, the official “2 Slippery” sound boasts over 38,200 posts, with other popular clips including footage of NBA star Anthony Edwards jamming to Dlow’s music, workout videos, and strolling videos from various Black Greek letter organizations. 

“2 Slippery” is the latest single from Luh Tyler’s new Mr. Skii LP, which recently entered the Billboard 200 at No. 197, marking his first appearance on the chart. — KYLE DENIS


A Surf Blessing and a Surf Curse: Band Scores Second Viral Hit With Second Five-Plus-Year-Old Song

Indie surf rockers Surf Curse first made national noise in 2020, when their song “Freaks” became one of the most popular sounds on TikTok during the early days of the COVID pandemic. By that point, the song was already nearly a decade old — having originally been released on their 2013 album Buds — and despite signing to major label Atlantic in 2021, subsequent 2022 LP Magic Hour failed to produce another streaming hit near the level of “Freaks.” In 2024, however, the band finally has a second hit on its hands — and of course, it’s once again from the pre-pandemic era.

“Disco” is a little newer than “Freaks” was when it took off, at least, having originally dropped in 2019 as lead single to the band’s third album Heaven Surrounds You. But the song has really taken off in the past month, once again thanks to TikTok, where “Disco” has (appropriately) caught on as a dance challenge. No mirrorballs or bell bottoms needed for this one, however: Users instead use the song’s new-wavey chorus to soundtrack clips of them and a partner throwing their arms in different directions in tandem to the refrain’s staccato first half, then doing a kind of twist together as the full groove kicks in, before repeating the steps.

The challenge has helped “Disco” explode on streaming, as the single pulled 2.8 official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending Aug. 29 — up 351% from three weeks earlier. The band can at least take heart now that it’s not too late for one of the cuts from Magic Hour to have a big moment of its own; they may just have to wait for the early 2030s. — AU

Megan Thee Stallion stars in a new ad for Pepsi promoting the first NFL game of the season. Keep watching to see some of our favorite moments!

Tetris Kelly:

Megan Thee Stallion has rocked our world. She stuns in a new Pepsi ad and we’re breaking down our favorite moments, and our favorite throwback that inspired it. Let’s dive in. The ad also features Meg running a Roman competition with four of your favorite NFL players, including Travis Kelce. But of course, Thee Stallion had to put her own twist on the Queen Classic, “We Will Rock You.” And I mean, can anybody enter a field like this? Well maybe some can? The ad hits the nostalgia button referencing a former ad of Britney Spears, P!NK and Beyonce. How do you feel about the ad? Let us know in the comments.

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Looking for a hands-free experience for your next trip, school day, or work commute? The Alo Yoga Explorer Fanny is a great companion. Whether you’re heading out for a run or tackling errands, this fanny pack lets you carry all your essentials in one go. The pouch features an adjustable clip-on waist strap, two exterior zip pockets, one interior zip pocket, and a rubber patch Alo logo. With its adjustable strap you can also wear it as a crossbody bad making it stylish and convenient for everyday use.

If you’re after a trendy option, this pouch has the TikTok stamp of approval. One TikTok user raved about how “cute” it is, noting that she can fit “literally everything” inside. She also pointed out it’s perfect for baseball games, describing it as a “baseball stadium-approved bag.”

You can get it in four different colors: Black, White (out of stock), Espresso, and Ballet Pink (out of stock). Hurry though, this pouch is running out fast.

This $74 Alo Yoga Fanny Pack Has The TikTok Stamp of Approval

Alo Yoga Explorer Fanny Pack


The brand describes this fanny pack as “sleek” and “street-ready.” One Alo Yoga user said, “It holds everything and is not too bulky. I have large sunglasses and regular glasses and a big phone plus other stuff. All fit in.”

With its sleek design, spacious compartments, and multiple pockets, you’ll be able to fit all your essentials including, keys, phone, wallet, and so much more. Plus, its adjustable strap ensures a comfortable fit for all-day wear. Another Alo Yoga customer said, “Amazing! Very easy to hold and its also very light to carry.”

For more product recommendations, check out this Alo Yoga Solar Visor, this Jisoo-Approved Alo Yoga Bra Tank, and this Alo Yoga Airlift Intrigue Bra.

The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the Billboard Hot 100 dated Sept. 14, we look at a race that’s been dominated by one song for about two months now – and what songs, if any, may be closing the gap in the near future. 

Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (American Dogwood/EMPIRE/Magnolia Music): Well, he narrowly lost out on Billboard’s official Song of the Summer to Post Malone and Morgan Wallen with “I Had Some Help” — another week or two and that race might’ve gotten really interesting – but Shaboozey can content himself that he’s held on at No. 1 for yet another week on the Hot 100. That’s eight weeks total now for “A Bar Song,” marking the longest run of 2024, and the longest for anyone since (again) Morgan Wallen, whose “Last Night” reigned for twice that long in 2023.  

And it doesn’t appear to be fading much yet, either. It remains in the top five on Streaming Songs and atop atop both Digital Song Sales (12 weeks) and Radio Songs (five weeks). Its radio dominance also includes six weeks thus far atop the Country Airplay chart – one week away from passing Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel” for the longest-reigning country career-establishing No. 1 (defined as an artist’s first Country Airplay entry as a lead artist, or their initial song promoted to country radio) in the chart’s history. As long as its cross-platform dominance holds strong — it’s also been No. 1 the past two weeks on Adult Pop Airplay – it will remain a contender for the top spot; another artist is gonna have to really rise up to take the crown from it. 

Sabrina Carpenter, “Taste,” “Please Please Please” & “Espresso” (Island): Could Sabrina Carpenter be the artist to do that? She certainly has strength in numbers going for her: Carpenter holds the Nos. 2-4 spots on the Hot 100 this week (dated Sept. 7), as her Short n’ Sweet album conquers the Billboard 200 albums chart. Long-running hits “Please Please Please” (No. 1 peak) and “Espresso” (No. 3) shoot back up to Nos. 3 and 4 on the chart, respectively, while just above them, the brand-new “Taste” bows at No. 2, thanks in large part to a spicy new music video with TV and film star Jenna Ortega as its co-lead.  

All three should be strong performers for some time. “Taste” remains atop essentially all major streaming charts – including Apple Music’s real-time listing, Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA and YouTube’s Trending Music – over a week after its release, while “Please Please Please” climbs to No. 1 on Pop Airplay and “Espresso” holds at No. 3 on the overall Radio Songs chart. The biggest issue with Carpenter claiming the Hot 100’s No. 1 spot soon might be a kind of vote-splitting effect — particularly on the airwaves, where programmers simply have more songs of hers right now than they know what to do with.  

“Taste” has momentum on its side, and is already nearing the 50-position Radio Songs listing. If it can pick up enough airplay before its streaming totals really start to drop, it could close the gap with “A Bar Song” before too long. In the meantime, an extra boost from Carpenter would help – like, say, with a memorable performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, where she’s scheduled to perform next Wednesday (Sept. 11).  

Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile” (Streamline/Interscope/Atlantic/ICLG): Meanwhile, momentum has hardly sagged at all for the new Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars duet – which falls to No. 6 on the Hot 100 this week thanks to the Sabrina surge, but holds in the top three on both Digital Song Sales and Streaming Songs, and is already bounding up Radio Songs, jumping 45-36 this week. And despite falling on Streaming Songs post-Short n’ Sweet, it’s actually up in total streams for the week, and even hits No. 1 on both Billboard Global charts.  

Will the song be in position to take over the Hot 100’s top spot when the Gaga-starring Joker: Folie a Deux – which “Smile” does not appear to be officially connected to, but which it does have some spiritual kinship with via its title – hits American theaters in October? Will it even have to wait that long? 

Billie Eilish, “Birds of a Feather” (Darkroom/Interscope/ICLG) & Chappell Roan, “Good Luck Babe” (KRA/Amusement/Island/Republic): Both of these now-long-running (if relatively slower-building) hits seem to have fallen behind in the race a bit, as they’ve been passed by the big-debuting “Taste” and “Smile.” But both are still definitely in the mix, with both holding in the top 10 on Streaming Songs, and “Birds” having reached the top 10 on Radio Songs, with “Babe” likely to join it there next week. The VMAs next week may also hold bump potential for both: Eilish is not performing but is a four-time nominee, while Roan is making her debut on the VMAs stage and is also up for four awards.  

Ryan Castro and Nike have teamed up for a new collaboration, Billboard can exclusively announce.

The Nike by Ryan Castro capsule — available for a limited time at Nike’s flagship stores in Bogotá and Medellín — features customized designs by “El Cantante del Ghetto,” including T-shirts, jackets and shoes with unique laces and tags accessories. Honoring the intersection of sports, reggaetón and Colombian culture, each piece has been created to capture the vibrant energy, attitude and creativity that define the artist and the brand, according to the press release.

“Collaborating with Nike for this exclusive capsule is a dream come true for me,” Castro said in the release. “My love for fashion and music has always been deeply connected — both are ways I express who I am and where I come from. I made my break in the music industry with a song titled ‘Jordan,’ and to now be partnering with such an iconic brand feels like a full-circle moment.”

“Jordan,” which entered both the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts in 2022, “is the song that everyone identifies me with. I feel it’s my biggest hit because it relates to urban street fashion and my personal flow,” he previously said to Billboard.

Coinciding with Nike by Ryan Castro, the “Mujeriego” singer will kick off his El Cantante del Ghetto tour on Sept. 6 with a sold-out show at Bogotá’s Movistar Arena.

In the fall, he will also hit the road with Blessd for a 15-date joint trek called Ay Bendito Ghetto. Powered by Touring the World and Seitrack US, the tour will kick off Oct. 31 in San Jose, Calif., and wrap on Dec. 1st in Atlanta after visiting key cities such as Los Angeles and Miami.

When Michael “Mike” Smith was indicted Wednesday (Sept. 4) over allegations that he used an AI music company to create “hundreds of thousands” of songs and then used bots to artificially earn $10 million in streaming income since 2017, prosecutors claimed that some of the money flowed back to that AI music company. The indictment also claimed that Smith was in consistent contact with its CEO — but it never revealed their names.

ASCAP/BMI Songview records and the MLC database indicate that Alex Mitchell, CEO/founder of popular AI music company Boomy, is listed as the co-writer on at least hundreds of the 200,000 plus songs that are registered to Smith. Boomy also released a song, “This Isn’t Real Life,” jointly with Smith, CVBZ and Stunna 4 Vegas.

In a statement to Billboard, Mitchell says: “We were shocked by the details in the recently filed indictment of Michael Smith, which we are reviewing. Michael Smith consistently represented himself as legitimate.”

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The indictment alleges that around 2018, “Smith began working with the Chief Executive Officer of an [unnamed] AI music company and a music promoter to create thousands of songs that Smith could then fraudulently stream.” Within months, the CEO was allegedly providing Smith with “thousands of songs each week.”

In June 2019, the indictment says that Smith reported to the AI music CEO and the promoter that “we are at 88 million TOTAL STREAMS so far!!!” Smith explained to the CEO and promoter that his streams were earning about $110,000 per month and that the two men were each receiving 10% of the proceeds. Smith later asked the AI CEO to provide him with another 10,000 AI songs so that he could “spread this out more” with his streams. The indictment states that this was “to evade detection from streaming platforms.”

Eventually, according to the indictment, Smith entered a “Master Services Agreement” with this AI music company that supplied Smith with 1,000-10,000 songs per month. The deal stated that Smith would have “full ownership of the intellectual property rights in the songs.” In turn, Smith would provide the AI company with metadata and the “greater of $2,000 or 15% of the streaming revenue” he generated from the AI songs.

“Keep in mind what we’re doing musically here… this is not ‘music,’ it’s ‘instant music’ ;)” the AI CEO wrote to Smith in an email that was included in the indictment.

Mitchell’s publisher is listed as Songtrust, a publishing administration company owned by Downtown, which typically earns a percentage of signees’ royalties in exchange for services. Smith’s publisher, Smithhouse Music Publishing, also lists Songtrust as its point of contact on Songview.

A representative for Songtrust declined Billboard’s request for comment. However, a source close to the matter tells Billboard that Smith and Mitchell’s Songtrust deals were terminated more than a year ago.

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While it is not unheard of for an AI company to be approached by customers who are looking to buy a large number of songs, multiple AI music executives tell Billboard that it is common to know why the customer wants the tracks and to do “KYC,” or “know your client,” checks to ensure they are above board.

Typically, customers for large sums of songs tend to be companies that are seeking cheap music alternatives, often for social media content. Other requests tend to come from unknown individuals outside of the U.S., especially streaming fraud hotspots like Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam and Brazil. These parties are often denied. Two sources say it’s surprising to see a CEO’s name listed in the credits as a songwriter when these transactions occur.

Boomy has been at the forefront of AI music since its infancy. Records vary as to when Boomy launched in beta, with some online sources saying 2018 and others saying 2019. It officially debuted in 2021, according to an announcement from Axios. The company claims on its website to have made over 20 million AI-generated tracks to date.

Boomy has also won the respect of the music industry establishment. For years, Boomy was distributing many of its AI tracks through a partnership with New York-based music services giant Downtown. Though this partnership was in place during the same time frame as Smith’s alleged fraudulent activities, it is unclear if any of Smith’s allegedly fraudulent AI tracks were distributed through Downtown. The indictment does state, however, that Smith used two distributors to upload content from 2017-2024, one based in New York and one based in Florida.

In May 2023, Boomy told users via Discord that Spotify had shut down its ability to upload songs to the DSP and that some of their released tracks had been removed. “This decision was made by Spotify and Boomy’s distributor in order to enable a review of potentially anomalous activity,” Boomy said at the time. Spotify later confirmed that the “anomalous activity” was related to possible streaming fraud detected on certain tracks. A Spotify spokesperson said at the time, “Artificial streaming is a longstanding, industry-wide issue that Spotify is working to stamp out across our service.”

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In fall 2023, Boomy announced that it had partnered with fraud detection company Beatdapp to combat streaming manipulation. A month later, Boomy also announced that it had reached a new distribution partnership with ADA Worldwide, a company under the Warner Music Group (WMG) umbrella.

WMG is one of Boomy’s top investors, making both a pre-seed round as well as a seed round investment. Other Boomy investors include Sound Media Ventures, First Check Ventures, Intonation Ventures, Future Labs, Boost VC and Scrum Venture, according to Crunchbase.

According to Songview and the MLC database, the same tracks that list Smith and Mitchell as co-writers also list a music industry veteran named Bram Bessoff, founder of promotional platform Indiehitmaker. Typically, these tracks allocate 10% of publishing ownership and royalties to Bessoff, which matches the amount the indictment indicates was paid to the unnamed promoter. Bessoff’s publisher is listed as Songtrust as well. (A source close to the matter says Bessoff’s deal with Songtrust was also terminated more than a year ago).

Bessoff declined Billboard’s request for comment, citing his cooperation in the ongoing investigation.