Broke Records is facing a lawsuit from ATLXS, the 18-year-old Italian artist behind the hit dance track “Passo Bem Solto,” who alleges the indie label is refusing to release him from a distribution deal he signed as a minor.

Broke, co-founded by Andre Benz and Brandon De Oliveira in 2023 in partnership with Create Music Group, has carved out a niche identifying viral songs and turning them into streaming hits. This is precisely what the label did with “Passo Bem Solto,” which is currently No. 6 on Billboard‘s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart and has more than 450 million Spotify streams across various remixes.

But the artist behind “Passo Bem Solto,” 18-year-old ATLXS (Diego Basile), is now suing Broke to get out of his contract. ATLXS’ attorney, Douglas Johnson, writes in a Monday (Oct. 20) federal complaint that he signed over the “Passo Bem Solto” masters to Broke in January, and Johnson tells Billboard that the agreement also included publishing rights.

The lawsuit alleges the deal was “predatory,” and that a provision of California’s family code allows a contract signed by a minor to be later “disaffirmed” — that is, made void. ATLXS, who was only 17 when he signed with Broke, sent a legal notice to the label terminating his contract under this provision last month.

According to the lawsuit, Broke refused to honor the termination notice and is continuing to monetize “Passo Bem Solto” on streaming platforms. ATLXS is seeking a court order requiring his masters and publishing rights to be reverted back, as well financial damages for copyright infringement.

“Defendant has retained revenues, royalties and profits derived from the exploitation of the subject works after disaffirmance,” reads the complaint. “Defendant has continued to exploit the works through all of its streaming distribution channels, including continuing to stream the subject works on several streaming services, including but not limited to YouTube and Spotify.”

Speaking with Billboard on Tuesday (Oct. 21), Johnson says California law is clear that minors can rebuke their contracts and that an artist like ATLXS can regain his copyrights. “I find it to be a straightforward case,” he says.

Reps for Broke declined to comment on the lawsuit Tuesday.

As Taylor Swift sang on last year’s Tortured Poets Department: “We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.” Maybe the pop singer/songwriter just needs his next era to get even bigger than he already is (the man has four Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits, including the 12-week No. 1 “See You Again” with Wiz Khalifa, after all). And that next era is on the horizon, with the announcement of his fourth studio album Whatever’s Clever!, due in March, and the release of the lead single “Changes” last week.

Over the past month, Puth has been testing out some of his new material during a 16-show residency across Blue Note New York (Sept. 25-28) and Blue Note Los Angeles (Oct. 16-19), bringing jazzy reimaginings of some of his biggest hits to the legendary jazz club stage. Billboard was inside the final Los Angeles concert over the weekend, and on the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast, Katie is telling Keith all about seeing Puth play at such an intimate venue.

Katie was mostly struck by what a good fit the venue was for Charlie and his catalog, as “Professor Puth” (known for sharing his music education with the TikTok audience) led an incredibly talented band of instrumentalists and backup singers through a masterclass of live pop. And as for the new songs — we heard “Beat Yourself Up” and “Changes” from the upcoming album on Sunday night — the crowd was just as into the brand-new tunes as they were into “Attention,” “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” “How Long” and, of course, “See You Again.” It seems that this new Dad Rock vibe Puth is leaning into (appropriately, the “Changes” music video also doubled as a pregnancy announcement for him and his wife Brooke) is going to be a perfect match.

Listen to the full conversation here:

And speaking of Taylor Swift… also on the show, we’ve got chart news about how Swift continues to hold down the No. 1 spots on both the Billboard 200 albums and Billboard Hot 100 songs charts with The Life of a Showgirl and lead single “The Fate of Ophelia,” while Olivia Dean makes gains on the Billboard 200 with The Art of Loving.

The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)