Beyoncé’s label and management company, Parkwood Entertainment, says in new court papers that it properly licensed the EDM sample that opens her 2022 Renaissance track “Alien Superstar.”

Parkwood filed a motion on Wednesday (Dec. 17) to dismiss the copyright lawsuit brought this summer by indie label Soundmen on Wax Records, which claims to own the rights to the 1998 song “Moonraker.” Beyoncé sampled the song as the introduction to “Alien Superstar,” which hit No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Please do not be alarmed, remain calm/ Do not attempt to leave the dancefloor/ The DJ booth is conducting a troubleshoot of the entire system,” the spoken-word “Moonraker” lyrics read.

It’s undisputed that Parkwood cleared the sample; court filings show that the company bought both a recording and composition license from “Moonraker” artist John Holiday in exchange for $10,000 and a 0.5% share of the “Alien Superstar” royalties. What’s in question, rather, is whether Holiday was the correct licensing party.

Soundmen on Wax claims it purchased the “Moonraker” rights from Holiday as part of a distribution deal back in 1998, and therefore it should have been the one to clear Beyoncé’s sample. But Parkwood maintains in Wednesday’s court filing that it followed proper procedure.

According to Parkwood’s lawyers from Latham & Watkins, there’s no paperwork documenting the supposed transfer of Holiday’s rights to Soundmen on Wax. Without documentation, Parkwood says, it couldn’t have been expected to know about conflicting claims to the “Moonraker” rights.

“As plaintiff concedes, Parkwood obtained a master use and composition license for the relevant ‘Moonraker’ sample from Holiday,” write the Parkwood lawyers. “That good faith, nonexclusive license prevails over plaintiff’s alleged undocumented and undisclosed transfer, which was never recorded.”

Parkwood argues that this glaring issue makes the whole lawsuit “meritless,” and it should be easily thrown out. Sony Music and Warner Chappell, both named as defendants in the lawsuit as well, are backing Parkwood’s motion to dismiss. Beyoncé is not being sued.

Renaissance debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in August 2022 and was noted at the time for its extensive samples and interpolations. Some artists celebrated their references on the record, like “Show Me Love” singer Robin S, while others, such as “Milkshake” hitmaker Kelis, were less pleased.

These many samples spurred multiple lawsuits. In addition to the “Alien Superstar” claims, a little-known New Orleans group sued Beyoncé last year over the chart-topping Renaissance lead single “Break My Soul.” That suit, which alleged the song’s properly-cleared Big Freedia sample copied lyrics from a 2002 track called “Release a Wiggle,” was quickly dropped.

Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac,” released in April 2024, finishes atop Billboard Japan’s 2025 Year-End Japan Hot 100. Within the chart year — from Nov. 25, 2024 to Nov. 23, 2025 — the song hit No. 1 five times and recently reached 800 million domestic streams, the second-fastest pace in history.

This year, the three-man band also became the first act ever to surpass 10 billion cumulative domestic streams across their catalog. The year-end top 10 features four additional songs by the group — “Darling,” “KUSUSHIKI,” “Bitter Vacances” and “Que Sera Sera” — reflecting how listeners embraced both their new and older material throughout the year. The trio are also crowned 2025 Artist of the Year for the second consecutive year, based on the Japan Artist 100 ranking calculated by combining the Japan Hot 100 and Hot Albums lists on an artist basis.

Meanwhile, frontman, guitarist and principal songwriter Motoki Omori becomes the first ever to lead both the Top Composers and Top Lyricists charts for three straight years.

As the trio close out the 10th anniversary of their major-label debut on a high note, Billboard Japan asked members Omori, Hiloto Wakai (guitar) and Ryoka Fujisawa (keyboards) what their banner “MGA MAGICAL 10 YEARS” milestone meant to them.

“Lilac” finishes at No. 1 on the 2025 Japan Hot 100. You also topped the artist charts following your 2024 year-end and 2025 mid-year wins. Congratulations. How are you feeling?

Motoki Omori: I’m happy. Simply happy, and I really feel the weight of it. I’m going to keep working hard so we live up to what this represents. At the same time, I don’t want to carry it so heavily that it becomes a burden. I want to keep enjoying the process of making music.

Hiloto Wakai: “Lilac” came out in 2024, so having it recognized like this in 2025 makes us truly grateful that it’s been loved for this long. We love the song ourselves, so it’s a real joy.

Ryoka Fujisawa: Part of why we push so hard with Mrs. GREEN APPLE is to get Omori’s lyrics and music out into the world, so it makes me really happy to see “Lilac” being enjoyed for so long and that it’s reaching people. It means a lot to us that people are enjoying the various songs we’ve been releasing as a band.

Mr. Omori, you’re the first in Billboard Japan history to lead both the annual Top Lyricists and Top Composers charts for three consecutive years. Your first solo work in four years also drew major attention. I imagine your principle of making music first for yourself applies to both your band and solo endeavors, but was there anything you learned from the different ways your music reached listeners?

Omori: Since the music comes from the same person, it’s hard to put the specific differences into words, but I can do solo work because Mrs. GREEN APPLE exists, and releasing solo songs actually made that even clearer. It was a year of rediscovering, of being reminded how important it is for me to keep creating.

With your 10th anniversary, it must have been a year of reflecting on your past and present. What have been the major turning points or especially memorable moments?

Omori: Forming Mrs. GREEN APPLE was the biggest turning point. Back when we’d just formed, before we’d even planted any seeds, I remember the three of us in a rehearsal studio dreaming out loud like it was yesterday, saying things like, “We deserve to become busy, so let’s start running through a lot of songs now.” Being able to keep going with that same ambition is something that’s stayed with me.

Wakai: For me, the song “StaRt” that we released in 2015, the year we debuted, means a lot. We performed it again at our 10th anniversary show called FJORD, and it still hasn’t faded. It always reminds me to keep pushing forward without forgetting our early days, so “StaRt” is definitely the one that stands out.

Fujisawa: This might be a slightly different angle than a turning point, but during our two-day 10th anniversary show FJORD, 100,000 fans came out to see us, and so many more tuned in via livestream. You can’t summarize that feeling with a simple word like “joy.” The scale of how many people love our music hit me all at once and it was a moment that felt bigger than anything before.

Again, it’s been an incredibly full year. If you had to sum up 2025 in one word?

Omori: “Gratitude,” for me.

Fujisawa: Mine is “Love.” I wanted to send love out into the world as a thank-you for our 10th anniversary, and we received so much love from everyone this year in return.

Wakai: I’d say “rich,” as in dense. I really remember every single moment, and it was a year packed with major experiences — all of it compressed into this really rich year.

With your four-day “BABEL no TOH” run at Tokyo Dome, the exhibition MGA MAGICAL 10 YEARS EXHIBITION “Wonder Museum” closing out your anniversary year, your slated appearance on NHK’s year-end Kohaku Uta Gassen extravaganza, and Phase 3 kicking off in the new year, there’s still so much ahead. Please share a message for your fans.

Fujisawa: We were fortunate to tour for many days in huge venues this year, and there were so many things to be grateful for. But beyond the numbers, what means the most is everyone who discovered Mrs. GREEN APPLE in our 12th year as a band and 10th anniversary of our major-label debut — people who listen to our songs in their daily lives, who look forward to our TV appearances, who come to our shows. That support is something we deeply appreciate. With Phase 3, we want to create a chapter where you can enjoy Mrs. GREEN APPLE even more deeply and love us even more. We’ll do our best so you can enjoy our music.

This interview by Mariko Ikitake first appeared on Billboard Japan.

TikTok has signed a deal to sell its U.S. business to three American investors — Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX — ensuring the popular social video platform can continue operating in the United States.

The deal is expected to close on Jan. 22, according to an internal memo seen by The Associated Press. CEO Shou Zi Chew told employees in the memo that ByteDance and TikTok have signed binding agreements with the three investors.

Half of the new TikTok U.S. joint venture will be owned by a consortium of investors — among them Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX will each hold a 15% share. Another 30.1% will be held by affiliates of existing ByteDance investors and 19.9% will be retained by the China-based ByteDance, according to the memo.

The U.S. venture will have a new, seven-member majority-American board of directors, the memo said. It will also be subject to terms that “protect Americans’ data and U.S. national security.”

U.S. user data will be stored locally in a system run by Oracle.

TikTok’s algorithm — the secret sauce that powers its addictive video feed — will be retrained on U.S. user data to “ensure the content feed is free from outside manipulation,” the memo said. The U.S. venture will also oversee content moderation and policies within the country.

The deal marks the end of years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration tries to reach an agreement for the sale of the company.

Three more executive orders followed, as Trump, without a clear legal basis, continued to extend the deadline for a TikTok deal. The second was in April, when White House officials believed they were nearing a deal to spin off TikTok into a new company with U.S. ownership that fell apart after China backed out following Trump’s tariff announcement. The third came in June, then another in September, which Trump said would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States in a way that meets national security concerns.

This story was originally published by The Associated Press.