Music News for Thursday

JUSTIN BIEBER BUYS HOME IN LOS ANGELES: Justin Bieber has purchased a home in Beverly Hills, reports the L.A. Times. He reportedly shelled out $8.5 million for the home, which was originally built in 1932 and renovated by Hollywood production designer Charles Infante. The 6,100 sq. ft home has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms and is described as being “designed for entertaining.” It features a large living room that opens to a private courtyard with fire feature, seating area, and olive trees. Inside, there is a wood-paneled library, sunken family room, and gourmet kitchen, which opens up to the rear grounds and infinity edge pool with cabana. Bieber has been renting since selling his Calabasas home in 2014 to Khlo Kardashian.

LIONEL RICHIE NAMED GLOBAL AMBASSADOR OF THE PRINCE’S TRUST: The Prince of Wales announced Wednesday that Lionel Richie has been named the first global ambassador of his charity, The Prince’s Trust. The two men met up in Barbados, as part of Charles’ tour of the Caribbean, to celebrate the partnership. U.K.’s The Mirror reports that when Charles thanked Lionel for taking on the role, he made a joking reference to the American Idol judge’s signature tune “Hello” – much to Lionel’s amusement. “It must have been you I was looking for,” said the heir to the throne. “Oh, did you say that?” Lionel replied in mock disbelief. “He did say that.” Lionel will support the global expansion of The Prince’s Trust as it tackles issues like youth education and unemployment, supporting indigenous youth and helping to build sustainable communities.

USING ‘MY FAVORITE THINGS’ MELODY REQUIRED ARIANA GRANDE TO GIVE UP 90% OF ‘7 RINGS’ ROYALTIES: On her track “7 Rings,” Ariana Grande sings about using her hard-earned money to buy some of her favorite things. But, she’s not earning much money from the song itself. The New York Times reports that Ariana signed away 90% of her songwriting royalties to legendary songwriting duo Rodgers and Hammerstein. That’s because the majority of the song’s melody is from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein classic “My Favorite Things,” sung by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. Republic Records reportedly made the licensing deal just weeks before the song’s January release and, without further negotiation, agreed to hand over the hefty percentage to Concord, the company that owns the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalog. Rodgers and Hammerstein died in 1979 and 1960, respectively.

PELOTON SLAPPED WITH $150 MILLION LAWSUIT FOR USING SONGS BY DRAKE, LADY GAGA, GWEN STEFANI & MORE WITHOUT PERMISSION: Peloton is accused in a lawsuit of using more than 1,000 songs without permission for its online fitness classes. The popular home fitness company is being sued by several music publishers, who allege the maker of video-streaming exercise bikes songs from Lady Gaga, Drake, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake and others without permission. The lawsuit is asking for more than $150 million dollars in damages. The publishers said that since 2014, Peloton had released thousands of videos that included unlicensed music recorded by artists like Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran, Wiz Khalifa, Thomas Rhett, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber and Florida Georgia Line. Peloton manufacturers and sells stationary exercise equipment that sell in excess of $2,000 each. It also has a monthly streaming service for members to watch exercise videos while they bike.