Maverick City Music is firing back in a legal battle over co-founder Tony Brown’s exit from the Grammy-winning worship collective, accusing the executive of violating his non-compete by launching a new Christian music project.

Brown has been suing Maverick City in Georgia court since 2024 for allegedly strong-arming him into signing an unfavorable buyout agreement. The Atlanta-based group denies any wrongdoing, and on Dec. 8, they filed a countersuit in New York, accusing Brown of breaching the terms of that contract.

Maverick City alleges Brown has violated the buyout’s non-compete clause by launching his own worship collective called God Aura. This group, run as an arm of the nonprofit Unseen Voices, released an album called Wonderful Child on Dec. 5.

“Brown expressly described the project as ‘building on the creative DNA that launched Maverick City Music’ and listed as producers, featured or target artists many of the same core creatives who built the Maverick City Music sound, including Chandler Moore, Dante Bowe, Taylor Hill, Ahjah Walls and Nate Moore,” reads the countersuit.

The New York action claims Brown is actively recruiting Maverick City’s artists and producers for God Aura, and that he’s even sent inquiries from his old email account to create the false impression that the projects are connected. Maverick City is now seeking $10 million in damages from Brown for breach of contract, tortious interference, misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition.

Brown maintains that he’s done nothing wrong. In court papers filed Jan. 5, his lawyers say the non-compete agreement is not enforceable because Maverick City never paid him the sum agreed to in their buyout deal.

According to Brown, he only got involved with Unseen Voices and God Aura because “he had no other viable employment option that would allow him to earn income comparable to the outstanding payments that defendants have wrongfully withheld.”

A lawyer for Maverick City, Steven Cooper of the firm Reed Smith, told Billboard in a statement on Saturday (Jan. 10) that the company will not discuss active litigation.

“The New York action seeks to enforce a contract and stop conduct we believe violates ongoing obligations, including misuse of confidential information and attempts to solicit our ecosystem,” said Cooper. “We will address the claims in court.”

Brown’s lawyer, Gary Freed, reiterated the arguments from his court filing in a Monday (Jan. 12) comment to Billboard: “We do not believe the non-competition provision is enforceable because of their failure to pay him the compensation they promised him for it.”

A hearing on the matter was held on Monday in Atlanta, though a judge has not yet issued any rulings.

The dispute comes as Maverick City is roiling from the exit of flagship member Chandler Moore. Just as he announced his departure from the group in October, Moore filed a lawsuit alleging that Maverick City CEO Norman Gyamfi stole millions of dollars in royalties from him.

Maverick City denies Moore’s claims as “wildly untrue.”

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 NFL Wild Card weekend has been a spectacle to say the least. The defending Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, saw a first round exit to the San Francisco 49ers, the Chicago Bears pulled a major upset against the Green Bay Packers and Josh Allen put on his Superman cape to take out the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, the playoff hype isn’t over yet. Tonight, the Pittsburg Steelers will host the Houston Texans for the final AFC wild card matchup of the week.

Steelers vs. Texans, at a Glance:

Can Aaron Rodgers turn back the clock and defeat a top ranked Texans defense? Well, you’ll have to watch to find out. We created a guide to streaming the NFL wild card game live online for free and without cable. Keep reading below to learn more.

How to Watch the Steelers vs. Texans Wild Card Game Online for Free

While ESPN Unlimited doesn’t currently offer a free trial, there are other streamers that offer ESPN online free. If you want access to ESPN and additional channels, you can take advantage of DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV and Fubo, which are all offering free trials or promos right now. Some of them can give you free access to ESPN for up to a week.

Here are all the ways to watch ESPN online, including ways to stream ESPN online for free.

DirecTV

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DirecTV is offering a five-day free trial, which will let you watch ESPN and more for free. The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network is included in all of the streaming packages. In addition to unlimited DVR storage, you’ll get access to local channels and the ability to stream on as many devices as you want.

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With prices starting at just $4.99 for a day pass, Sling TV includes ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN 3 (for ABC simucast) with it Sling Orange and Sling Orange + Blue packages — which features dozens of channels that can be streamed on up to three devices at the same time. Sling Orange + Blue features FS1 and the NFL Network too

Please note: Sling TV’s pricing and channel availability depends on your local TV market.

FuboTV

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Fubo is another great option you can take advantage of to watch ESPN online. The streamer offers a seven-day free trial that’ll give you access to ESPN free and more than 240 live TV channels. The service offers a promo that’ll get you up to $30 off the first month, which can get you access to ESPN and more for as low as $54.99 (reg. $84.99 per month).

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For the most content options, Hulu + Live TV gives you access to the entire Hulu library in addition to more than 95 live TV channels — including ESPN for just $82.99 per month.

And, unlike the rest of the options, you can also expand your content library by bundling Hulu + Live TV with Disney+ and ESPN Unlimited. You’ll not only have all of the Hulu library to watch, but also exclusive and original programming available exclusively on ESPN Unlimited.

ESPN Unlimited

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ESPN Unlimited is the official streaming platform for ESPN, and a subscription includes instant access to games and more exclusive content for $29.99 per month. You can save almost 17% off by purchasing an annual subscription for $299.99 per year. There is no free ESPN Unlimited trial, but it does include exclusive on-demand videos and access to content from what was formerly known as ESPN Insider.

In addition to live sports, ESPN Unlimited has original shows to stream on-demand, plus game recaps and analysis, a shorter version of NFL Primetime and full replays of historic NFL matchups.

To expand your savings and content offerings, currently, you can bundle ESPN Unlimited with Hulu and Disney+ for a single monthly price of just $29.99 per month for all three services for 12 months of streaming.

Nobody knows exactly what will happen when the Pittsburgh Steelers play the Houston Texans at home on Monday (Jan. 12) night in the final game of the NFL’s Wild Card playoff round.

But one thing is for sure: Styx‘s “Renegade” will blast over the PA at Acrisure Stadium, most likely toward or during the fourth quarter, while the Steelers’ defense is on the field.

It’s a team tradition that dates back nearly 25 years and is an intrinsic part of Steelers game day culture, tied to key plays and comebacks. “It gets our crowd up,” Mike Tomlin, the AFC North Division champion’s coach since 2007, explains in a team-produced video about the “Renegade” connection. “I think it brings out the best of us.” Star defensive tackle Cam Heyward agrees that, “It gets us hyped. It lets us know it’s a critical moment. It’s a chance to let the defense light your hair on fire; ‘We got to get a turnover. We got to get a big play.’” Linebacker T.J. Watt adds that, “‘Renegade’ is one of those things. As soon as the screen goes black, everybody knows what the deal is. It’s just a tone-setter. It really is.”

Tommy Shaw, who wrote “Renegade” for Styx’s 1978 album Pieces of Eight, tells Billboard that the association is “incredible. You never know what kind of life you’re going to have with a song. It had already been around for awhile and done its thing…one of the classic Styx songs that we play every night. Then to have (the Steelers) pick it up and use it like this? Amazing. It’s like having another life for it. You never see something like that coming.”

Credit for the connection goes to Mike Marchinsky, Steelers’ senior manager marketing events, who’s been with the team since 1998. Introduced to Styx’s music by his mother, Marchinsky — whose wife is also a Styx fan — was listening to one of the band’s compilations on the way to work during 2001 when “Renegade” came on. “It sparked something,” he notes in the video — especially since the Steelers were looking for new scoreboard content as it moved into a new stadium (then called Heinz Field). He presented the song and idea to the game day staff, which created a video around it; the screen goes dark, then black-and-white highlights stream during the song’s pensive, foreboding opening, exploding into color as Shaw screams and “Renegade” shifts into stomping rock mode. “It’s like what happens during a concert…only with thousands of Steelers fans waving Terrible Towels,” Shaw says.

Retired Steelers star Joey Porter — whose namesake son is currently with the team — notes that initially, “we didn’t even know the song was called ‘Renegade.’ We called it ‘Oh Mama.’ I thought the name of the song was that for almost a decade.”

The team’s Marchinsky notes that, “When you create something like this, you’re either trying to get a reaction out of the fans or you’re trying to get a reaction out of the players. And this one got a reaction out of both.” “Renegade” wasn’t played at every game initially, but it was elevated during a playoff game against the Cleveland Browns on Jan. 5, 2003, when it helped trigger the team, down 24-7 in the second half, to an eventual comeback win; “Renegade” was played twice that day, in fact.

“Then it kinda turned into an anthem, and we started playing it at every game,” Marchinsky says. “It’s awesome to see how it grew from something that was just an every once in awhile to now a game day staple that sometimes has made a great impact on the game.”

Styx, meanwhile, has fully embraced the Steelers via “Renegade.” Charlie Brusco, who manages the band for Red Light Management, tells Billboard that Styx was in the midst of a sound check at the House of Blues in Los Angeles during the 2003 playoff game. “A few of us who were Steelers fans had the game on backstage and we heard the song played in the background.” Shortly after that the Steelers organization contacted Brusco about cementing the relationship, which has included five National Anthem performances and an acoustic performance of “Renegade” before player introductions at a 2009 playoff game against the San Diego Chargers. The band also honored Steelers linebacker Kevin Greene during October 2016 for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Steelers Ring of Honor by performing at the game as well as the night before at the city’s Benedum Center. “It’s been a great ride with this 20-plus years relationship,” Brusco says, which extended to playing “Renegade” between periods during the New Year’s Day 2011 NHL Winter Classic game in Pittsburgh.

Over at WDVE-FM, the city’s major rock radio outlet and now the Steelers’ flagship station, program director John Moschitta notes that “Renegade” “has never really lost its place on the playlist since it was released…(but) the song definitely gained a renewed sense of fandom once the Steelers started playing it at the games and in the context it is used. We definitely up the rotation on the song closer to that weekends Steelers game.”

Morning co-host Randy Baumann adds that, “‘Renegade’ has become both a battle cry and a song of celebration when the Steelers are winning,” so much so that “hearing it out of the context of Steelers season has almost become akin to seeing a teacher outside of school; it doesn’t quite seem like it’s allowed to be there when the Steelers aren’t playing. And you would certainly never want to play the song after a bad effort by the Steel Curtain. People would tune out before the scream.”

The third single released from the Billboard 200 top 10 album Pieces of Eight, “Renegade” peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979 and has appeared in the film Billy Madison and in TV’s Freaks and Geeks. Major League Baseball pitchers David Bednar and Josh Hader used it as game entrance music as well. “It’s a song that pretty much wrote itself,” Shaw recalls. “I had a piano in my home in Niles (Michigan); I was actually trying to figure out this song called ‘The Raven’ from Alan Parsons’ Tales of Mystery and Imagination album, just to play along with it…and then I started messing around with it. I started moving (the notes) around like chess pieces…. I played it for the band, and then we transposed it and it turned out to be an easy thing to play on guitar. From that point on we just started carving on it as a song. The Styx vocal style worked out really well on it. And then somebody said, ‘Let’s rock it up when we get to that part that goes “the jig is up.”‘ And within minutes it became the song you know.”

Shaw is quick to clarify that the lyrics of “Renegade,” about an outlaw about to be hanged for his crimes, are purely fiction. “I’ve never been arrested,” he says with a laugh. “There’s never been a bounty on my head like the guy in the song or any of that. It just felt good to sing those kinds of vowels and that sort of thing. That’s what I heard when it got to that part. My subconscious mind picked it up and ran with it, and it kinda wrote itself.”

Styx will be playing the Pieces of Eight album in its entirety during its residency at the Venetian Resort Las Vegas from Jan. 23-31. This summer the group teams up with Chicago for the 25-date Windy Cities Tour that kicks off July 13 in West Palm Beach, Fla., and runs through Sept. 6 in Los Angeles. The full itinerary includes:

Mon 7/13          West Palm Beach, FL    iThink Financial Amphitheatre

Wed 7/15          Tampa, FL                     MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre

Fri 7/17             Alpharetta, GA              Ameris Bank Amphitheatre

Sat 7/18            Charlotte, NC                PNC Music Pavilion

Mon 7/20          Bristow, VA                   Jiffy Lube Live

Tue 7/21           Camden, NJ                  Freedom Mortgage Pavilion

Thu 7/23           Wantagh, NY                 Northwell at Jones Beach Theater

Sat 7/25            Gilford, NH                    BankNH Pavilion

Sun 7/26           Mansfield, MA               Xfinity Center

Tue 7/28           Toronto, ONT.                RBC Amphitheatre

Thu 7/30           Grand Rapids, MI          Acrisure Amphitheatre

Sat 8/1              Rosemont, IL                Allstate Arena

Sun 8/2             Noblesville, IN               Ruoff Music Center

Wed 8/5            Cuyahoga Falls, OH      Blossom Music Center

Thu 8/6             Cincinnati, OH               Riverbend Music Center

Wed 8/19          Austin, TX                     Moody Center

Thu 8/20           Houston, TX                  The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Sponsored by Huntsman

Mon 8/24          St. Louis, MO                Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

Tue 8/25           Kansas City, MO           MORTON Amphitheater

Fri 8/28             Denver, CO                   Ball Arena

Sun 8/30           Salt Lake City, UT          Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre

Tue 9/1             Phoenix, AZ                  Mortgage Matchup Center                                

Wed 9/2            Palm Desert, CA           Acrisure Arena

Fri 9/4               Concord, CA                 Toyota Pavilion at Concord

Sun 9/6             Los Angeles, CA            Kia Forum

Jelly Roll, Riley Green, Miranda Lambert and Ella Langley are among the artists set to perform on the upcoming 2026 Rock the Country Tour, a multi-city festival presented by Peachtree Entertainment that will visit eight small towns across various dates running from May through September.

Rock the Country launched in 2024. This year, each of the two-day events will feature rotating lineups, with a massive collection of artists including Blake Shelton, Kid Rock, Jason Aldean, Creed, Brooks & Dunn, Hank Williams Jr., Shinedown, Jon Pardi, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Brantley Gilbert, Treaty Oak Revival, Gavin Adcock, Ludacris and Nelly performing at various stops. Each stop will also feature happy-hour DJ sets and a special host appearance by Chelcie Lynn in some markets.

“It’s this simple. Rock the Country isn’t just a music festival — it’s a movement,” Kid Rock said in a statement. “In 2026, as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, this is a place for hard-working, God-fearing patriots to gather as one and celebrate freedom, music and the party of the year”.

“Rock the Country was built to honor the communities that don’t always get the spotlight, but show up with heart every single time,” Peachtree Entertainment CEO/partner Nathan Baugh said in a statement.

“As we look ahead to 2026 and America’s 250th anniversary, we are raising the bar across the entire tour with bigger lineups, more intentional fan experiences and meaningful investments in comfort and production,” added Shane Quick, president of Live Events. “This is not just a tour. It is a celebration of the people, places and music that define this country.”

This year, Rock the Country is also introducing Front Porch festival passes, which includes seating with elevated sightlines, complimentary non-alcoholic beverages, dinner curated by Bancroft, a weekend parking pass and more.

Presale tickets will go on sale beginning Jan. 16 at 10 a.m. local time, with public onsale starting Jan. 16 at 2 p.m. local time. In addition to Front Porch and VIP offerings, Rock the Country will offer single-day and weekend general admission tickets as well as GA+ passes that give closer access to the stage as well as hotel packages and camping options.

Check out the list of performers and dates below:

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.

Content creation is a growing field. The industry is worth $250 billion globally and is projected to double by 2027, according to Forbes, and it’s easy to see why.

The Gen Z tastemakers of the world are redefining online influence, making their voices heard, with help from great tech in a slew of mediums. With podcasts, TikTok, X and other social media platforms becoming a regular source for news and trends, many aspiring creators are picking up vlogging cameras and at-home studio equipment to share their passions with digital audiences.

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