Rihanna CLAPS BACK at Instagram Fat Shamers

Strictly R&B: In The News - Week of 2/19/17

Brandy on new music, being 'brave' and why we're still obsessed with '90s R&B

R&B Veteran Charlie Wilson Talks Four Decades of Chart Success

Prince’s Music Stream Increases 6,323 Percent In Wake Of Wide Release

Solange Writes Heartfelt Tribute To Musician Junie Morrison

Chris Brown Plotting Major U.S. Tour With a Gang of Rappers [PHOTO]

Clyde Stubblefield, James Brown’s ‘Funky Drummer,’ Dies At 73; Hip-Hop Community Reacts

A Timeline of Dionne Farris's Life

Village People Lead Singer Victor Willis Writes Letter To Grammy Recording Academy, Accuses Racial Bias

Carlos Santana Retracts On His Beyoncé Diss

Frank Ocean Launches Mysterious ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ Video Stream

Strictly R&B: In The News 9/6/15

Aretha Franklin Stops Film Fest Screener

Miguel Slams Critics Who Call His Music 'R&B'

7 Contemporary R&B Trends That Need To Die

Prince Reveals He’s A Fan Of Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” Song

Beyoncé Headlines Made In America Festival

John Legend Signs On To Contribute To Spongebob Musical

Chris Brown Says He Owns 14 Burger King Restaurants, Knows Martial Arts in Revealing List

Strictly R&B: In The News 5/3/15

Bluesman B.B. King 'In Home Hospice Care,' His Website Says

Kehlani Releases the Year's First Great R&B Album With 'You Should Be Here'

TV One's "R&B Divas LA" Reunion Special Part One Reaches 1.3 Million Total Viewers 2+

8 Signs An R&B Album Will Flop

R. Kelly Apologizes to Fans After Ditching Concert Last Minute Over Payment; Fans Trash Stage

Michelle Obama And Ciara Promote ‘Get Schooled’ Campaign During College Signing Day

Lauryn Hill Just Made The Greatest Apology Video Ever

Strictly R&B: In The News 10/12/14

Aretha Franklin Notches Milestone 100th Hit On Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart

Is 'R&B Divas: Atlanta' Set For Cancellation?

R&B Hall Of Fame Closer to Becoming A Reality

Interview: Alicia Keys Released Pregnant Nude Photo For Peace, Says New Album Is 'Aggressive' 

August Alsina Cancels London Show On Doctor’s Orders 

Tinashe Releases Her Debut Album 'Aquarius' and Discusses Working With Future

Ne-Yo Moves Out, Talks Co-Parenting With Monyetta Shaw

Keyshia Cole Arrested on Suspicion of Battery

Billboard.com:

Police say Grammy-nominated R&B singer Keyshia Cole has been arrested on suspicion of battery after an altercation early Friday morning (Sept. 19) in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles police officer Nuria Vanegas says Cole was arrested around 5 a.m. after someone initiated a private person's arrest. The 32-year-old was booked on suspicion of battery and released from custody Friday afternoon.

Police did not release any further details about the incident.

An email message sent to Cole's publicist was not immediately returned.

Cole's second album, 2007's Just Like You, produced the songs "Let It Go," ''I Remember" and "Heaven Sent."

Coroner Calls BS On Lindsay Lohan's Claims That She Touched Whitney Houston's Body Bag

TMZ.com:

Lindsay Lohan is lying when she says she had to roll Whitney Houston's body bag at the L.A. County Morgue ... because Whitney was never in a body bag.

An official from the Coroner's Office tells TMZ ... Whitney was NEVER in a body bag and no one in the probation program came in contact with Whitney's body.

Lindsay -- who was ordered by a judge to spend time at the morgue to teach her a lesson about drinking and driving -- claimed in an interview she was singled out to roll Whitney's body bag.

Whitney died on Saturday, Feb 11, 2012. The autopsy was performed the next day and her body was gone by morning. No one from any court-ordered probation program came in contact with the body ... according to the Coroner's official.

The official says Whitney was wrapped in plastic with a sheet cover the entire time she was at the morgue. In fact, she was taken out in plastic -- not a body bag -- from the hotel where she died.

Robin Thicke Says He Was Too Wasted To Write "Blurred Lines"

TMZ.com:

Robin Thicke was wasted on Vicodin and booze when he helped create "Blurred Lines" ... and that's his defense to allegedly ripping off Marvin Gaye.

Thicke sat for a deposition in the case where Gaye's family sued him for allegedly lifting Marvin's song, "Got to Give it Up."

The lawyer for Gaye's family asked Thicke if he was present when Pharrell created "Blurred Lines." Thicke responded, "I was high on Vicodin and alcohol when I showed up at the studio." He goes on to say he was so out of it he really wasn't involved in the creative process.

Thicke then kind of throws Pharrell under the bus in the depo, saying, "The reality is, is that Pharrell had the beat and he wrote almost every single part of the song."

Thicke has a problem ... he gave a GQ interview where he said, "Pharrell and I were in the studio and I told him that one of my favorite songs of all time was Marvin Gaye's 'Got to Give it Up.'  I was like, 'Damn, we should make something like that, something with that groove.'"

Thicke had a great answer for his GQ interview, telling the lawyer, "With all due respect, I was high and drunk every time I did an interview last year."

In fact, Thicke said, "Every day, I woke up, I would take a Vicodin to start the day and then I would fill up a water bottle with vodka and drink it before and during my interviews."

Robin Thicke & Paula Patton Are Officially Separated

Top 25 - Billboard R&B Songs [Week of October 26, 2013]

Copyright Lawsuit Targets Cover Songs on YouTube

NYTimes.com:

In the latest sign of friction over the licensing of online music, a group of music publishers has sued Fullscreen, one of the largest suppliers of videos to YouTube, saying that many of Fullscreen’s videos — particularly cover versions of popular songs — infringe on the publishers’ copyrights.

Fullscreen is one of the largest of the so-called multichannel networks, or M.C.N.'s, which produce their own content — the company’s offices are in Culver Studios in Los Angeles, where “Gone With the Wind” and “Citizen Kane” were filmed — and represent the work of thousands of other creators of widely varying sizes. According to Fullscreen, the 15,000 channels the company represents have a total of 200 million subscribers and draw more than 2.5 billion views each month. 

Among the most popular videos on YouTube are cover versions of popular songs, often by amateurs or semiprofessionals who have built a following online. But according to the suit, filed in United States District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday by groups represented by the National Music Publishers’ Association, most of these lack the proper licenses and do not pay publishers and songwriters the royalties earned from ad revenue. (Publishers represent the music and lyrics underlying songs, not recordings of them, which are covered by a separate copyright.) 

According to the suit, Fullscreen and its founder, George Strompolos, who is named as a defendant, “have willfully ignored their obligation to obtain licenses and pay royalties to exploit the vast majority of the musical content disseminated over Fullscreen’s networks.” A spokeswoman for Fullscreen declined to comment.

The publishers represented in the suit include Warner/Chappell Music, which is owned by the Warner Music Group and is one of the biggest publishers, along with several independents like Songs Music Publishing and Peermusic. An exhibit submitted with the suit lists dozens of songs that Fullscreen is accused of using without proper licenses, including hits by Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Britney Spears and others. 

As YouTube has become the default listening service for young people, the music industry has frequently sparred with YouTube and its owner, Google, over the licensing issues, which can be confusingly opaque.

YouTube, for example, is responsible for the licensing and royalties of user-generated content loaded directly to its system, but often yields that responsibility to M.C.N.'s and other major partners. 

In turn, those networks have come under fire from music groups, and negotiations have been slow. In February, Fullscreen and Maker Studios announced licensing deals with the Universal Music Publishing Group, one of the largest publishers, but most others had no such deals. 

An announcement on Tuesday about the publishers’ suit against Fullscreen suggested that it had been prompted by a breakdown in licensing negotiations. At the same time that it announced the suit, the association said it had reached an agreement in principle with Maker Studios on licensing.

Chris Brown Pleads Not Guilty To Hit-and-Run

TMZ.com:

Chris Brown just pled not guilty to the charge of hit-and-run, stemming from that minor car accident -- which led to his probation getting revoked -- TMZ has learned.

Since he wasn't arrested on the day of the accident, Chris now has to go to a police station to get booked for the crime ... which means he'll have to take another mug shot. He has until August 6th to take care of that.

Chris' next court date in the hit-and-run case is August 15.

As for his possible probation violation in the Rihanna beating case -- the singer has to appear in court for a separate probation violation hearing in August.

As we reported, the judge revoked Chris' probation in the wake of the hit-and-run charge ... but he's currently free on his own recognizance.

The remaining charges from the car accident -- driving without a valid license and proof of insurance -- were dismissed.

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