Sean “Diddy” Combs returned to court on Thursday (Sept. 25) to advocate for his record to be cleared completely after he was acquitted of sex-trafficking but convicted of lesser prostitution charges.

Combs seemed in good spirits when he appeared in the courtroom, smiling and embracing his team of defense lawyers. It’s not surprising that the rapper has such affection for his legal team; they won a stunning trial victory in July, convincing jurors to acquit Combs of racketeering and sex-trafficking charges that could have subjected him to life in prison.

The jury did convict Combs of transporting Cassie Ventura and another ex-girlfriend referred to as “Jane” across state lines for “freak-off” sex parties with male escorts. Sentencing on these lesser counts is scheduled for Oct. 3, but Combs’ lawyers first got the chance to argue that the conviction should be wiped altogether.

One of Combs’ attorneys, appeal specialist Alexandra Shapiro, told Judge Arun Subramanian on Thursday that federal prostitution charges are antiquated and rarely enforced. The Mann Act, originally titled the White-Slave Traffic Act, has ugly origins in criminalizing interracial relationships in the early 1900s.

“The whole history of the statute is really, I would submit respectfully, an embarrassment to the United States of America,” Shapiro argued.

Shapiro said it’s Department of Justice policy to only level such charges when prostitution is done in a commercial context or tied to sex trafficking. And since the jury determined in their verdict that Combs’ girlfriends consented to the freak-offs, Shapiro argued, the Mann Act should be off the table.

Prosecutor Christy Slavik, meanwhile, countered that there is a legitimate government interest in regulating prostitution. Slavick said that even when prostitution is not strictly defined as sex trafficking, it can lead to other crimes like violence against women and drug use.

“All of those things were present here in this case,” said Slavik. “Ms. Ventura was getting punched in the face. Jane was getting hit and kicked. Mr. Combs was providing drugs to all parties.”

The lawyers also sparred over the defense’s creative argument that because Combs videotaped the freak-offs, these events constituted amateur pornography shoots protected by the First Amendment.

Shapiro noted that these events were “highly choreographed,” with “mood lighting” and “costumes.” But Slavik said Combs’ videography is entirely irrelevant to the question of whether people were transported across state lines for prostitution.  

Judge Subramanian peppered both sides with technical legal questions throughout the hearing and ultimately said he’ll issue a decision “very shortly.” He ended the proceeding by declaring that unless the conviction is wiped, he’ll “see everyone back here next Friday” for sentencing.

Federal sentencing guidelines suggest Combs will likely receive somewhere between two and five years of prison time next week, though judges have wide discretion to impose whatever punishment they see fit.

Combs’ legal team has asked that he be sentenced to essentially time served, since he’s already spent more than a year in jail. Prosecutors have not yet submitted their sentencing recommendation.

Richard Sterban, a member of quartet The Oak Ridge Boys for more than five decades, revealed on (Thursday) Sept. 25 that he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March of this year.

“I am under the care of the best cancer doctors in the country and, with the help of the Good Lord above, I believe I will be able to get through this,” Sterban said in a statement. He added, “I want to thank everyone, especially the fans, for your concern, and I would appreciate your continued prayers. Most days I’m feeling very good, and I hope to be back out on the road in several months.”

Sterban, whose signature bass vocals are a defining feature of such Oak Ridge Boys songs as their Billboard Hot 100 top 5 hit “Elvira,” most recently performed with the group at the Academy of Country Music Awards in May. Since then, Aaron McCune and Tim Duncan have been filling in for Sterban on tour.

New Jersey native Sterban joined The Oak Ridge Boys in 1972. Prior to joining the group, he sang with J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet, through which he also performed and recorded with Elvis Presley, and appeared in one of Presley’s movies, Elvis on Tour.

The Oak Ridge Boys have earned five Grammy Awards, nine GMA Dove Awards and two American Music Awards. The group was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2000, into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015 and have been members of the Grand Ole Opry since 2011. Among the group’s 17 No. 1s on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart are “Elvira,” “Bobbie Sue,” “American Made” and “Leaving Louisiana In Broad Daylight.”

The lineup of Sterban, Joe Bonsall, William Lee Golden and Duane Allen performed together for five decades, marking the group’s longest-running lineup. Bonsall announced his retirement in January 2024 and was replaced by vocalist Ben James. Bonsall died on July 9, 2024, at age 76.

The debut edition of Northern Nights x Dirtybird went down in the woods of NorCal this past July 18-20, and we’ve got sonic proof.

Hear exclusive sets from the festival from Jersey Club titan UNIIQU3, globe-trotting DJ and GM of dance at EMPIRE Moody Jones, soul and R&B-focused house producer Life On Planets and Dirtybird OG J. Phlip. All in, it’s four hours of music from the party weekend. Listen below.

Other performers for Dirtybird x Northern Nights 2025 included headliners Zeds Dead, Jungle, Aluna, Justin Martin, Levity and Walker & Royce. The fest happened along the shore of the Eel River and featured loads of daytime activities along with the music by night.

It marked the first collaborative event from the longstanding Northern Nights festival and the Dirtybird events brand, which launched in 2015 and was acquired by EMPIRE following the San Francisco-based label’s 2022 acquisition of the Dirtybird label.

“As the label was undergoing a leadership change under EMPIRE, it was important for us to take a step back and plan for the next evolution of the brand and the fan experience,” Jones told Billboard upon the festival’s announcement. “We knew we had to bring it back, and we know how much the fans have missed it, so it was a matter of timing it right.”

“From our very first conversation it was clear that we shared a deep connection within the same music community,” added Northern Nights co-founder Andrew Borgelt. “Throughout the process, both teams remained aligned on a shared vision — ensuring that each brand’s voice was authentically represented while seamlessly merging the essence of both festivals.”

UNIIQU3

Moody Jones

Life On Planets

J. Phlip

Suno, a leading generative AI music company, has announced the launch of Suno Studio, its new digital audio workstation (DAW) — or, as the company calls it, a “generative audio workstation.” The product combines all of Suno’s tools for music generation into one product, including generating individual stems, editing in a multi-track timeline and starting with any audio (samples, stems, even a hummed melody) and transforming it into something new, and exporting everything as audio and MIDI.

Ultimately, the product shows that Suno is not just interested in being the engine behind songs made at the click of a button — it’s interested in rivaling longtime professional DAWs like Logic, Ableton and FL Studio as well as newer browser-based options like Bandlab. “The goal is: however you know how to express a musical idea, whether it’s through piano, through humming something, through tapping on the table, through uploading a demo, or through a list of adjectives and genres — however you know how to express a musical idea, we want to let you hear it come to life,” says Suno product manager Henry Phipps in an exclusive interview with Billboard about the new tool.

The beta version of Suno Studio is available on Thursday (Sept. 25) to all users with a Premier Plan.

To introduce and finetune Suno Studio, the company has been quietly working with songwriting camps to get it into the hands of professional musicians, including a recent one at Rick Rubin’s famous Shangri-La studios in Malibu, Calif., hosted by Frank Ocean and Jay-Z producer Om’Mas Keith. “The music creation camp I did with Suno at Shangri-La was a high-profile art meets science experiment,” says Keith.

“We’ve done probably nine or ten [camps] so far,” Paul Sinclair, Suno’s new chief music officer, tells Billboard. “We’ve got five more already lined up. We are going to Asia for the next few weeks, and there’s even more for October and November.” Producers at these camps have also included THURZ of Party in My Living Room, Rance of 1500 or Nothin’, DONUT and more.

“But we’re not running these camps. Someone will come to us and say, ‘I would like to do a writer’s camp and I would like Suno to be part of it,’” says Sinclair.

Phipps adds, “I go to them as tech support… These are people interested in exploring the future, basically. All of these people have no trouble making incredible records on their own, they’re just interested in trying something brand new…It’s been interesting. At each of these camps, the creative in charge always has a very different way of interacting with Suno.”

“We’re witnessing a paradigm shift taking place in studios right now as AI becomes a part of more artists’ creative process,” said Mikey Shulman, co-founder and CEO of Suno, in a statement. “Studio was built to expand the toolkit for musicians; it intentionally does not prescribe workflows so that human talent can remain front and center. What’s been most inspiring for us is putting the technology in the hands of artists and watching them experiment with what’s possible, all with their creativity, knowledge and talent remaining in the driver’s seat.”

This is the latest in a string of announcements from the leading generative AI music company in recent months. In early June, Suno debuted new editing features, like its “creative slider” and stem extraction tools, to give users more control. Later that month, the company announced its acquisition of WavTool, a browser-based DAW. And in July, the company revealed that it had hired former Atlantic Records general manager Sinclair as its first chief music officer to “unlock new experiences between artists and fans.”

The major music companies — including Sinclair’s former employer, Warner Music Group — are still pursuing lawsuits against Suno and its competitor Udio, alleging that the companies have infringed on their copyrighted sound recordings on “an almost unimaginable scale” by using them to train models without a license. In early June, it was reported that the majors were in licensing talks with Suno and Udio to see if private licensing agreements could be reached.

Most recently, on Friday (Sept. 19), the majors updated their lawsuit against Suno to also include claims that Suno scraped their songs from YouTube, taking a cue from Anthropic’s recent $1.5 billion copyright settlement while citing an exclusive Billboard report on mass piracy in AI training.

Billboard is set to launch CLUB Billboard, a livestream DJ series that will feature DJs spinning the hottest Latin music tracks currently on the Billboard charts on Friday (Sept. 26). CLUB Billboard will premiere at 8 p.m. ET. on Billboard Latin’s YouTube channel.

The first DJ who will take part in the series is CC Love, a first-generation Mexican American who spins Latin sets in Los Angeles. She’s also a resident tour DJ for Gasolina Party and Reggaetón Rave.

“Music is my escape! And it’s healing for people that work all day. I want to be a part of that healing experience,” CC Love tells Billboard. “From the first time I went to Coachella in 2014, I fell in love with DJing and have been spinning ever since.”

Offering a sneak peak of what artists will make it into her set, she says: “The artist that always makes it in to my mix is Bad Bunny. Lots of El Alfa, Rauw Alejandro and Young Miko. Old school reggaetón like Daddy Yankee and Ivy Queen, too.”

You can tune in starting 8 p.m. ET for DJ CC Love’s set, and for a chance to win a pair of tickets to Billboard Latin Music Week 2025, which is scheduled for Oct. 20-24 in Miami. No purchase necessary. Winners will be confirmed via email. See Official Rules for details here.

Spanning 30 years, Latin Music Week is the single most important and largest gathering of Latin artists and industry executives in the world. This year’s event will once again host panels, marquee conversations, roundtables, networking and activations, in addition to its celebrated Billboard En Vivo showcases.