Rihanna and Maroon 5 will each hit the stage at Saturday Night Live as musical guests next month, according to the Hollywood Reporter…
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The Spirit co-producer F.J. DeSanto to act as producer; art unveiled for Archaia Publishing’s graphic novel adaptation
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It’s a case of life imitating art: A woman has sued hip-hop smoothie Drake claiming she’s the voice on the other end of the drunk-dial on last year’s eerie Take Care stunner “Marvin’s Room” — and she says she has the text messages to prove it.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the plaintiff is Ericka Lee, who claims she was professionally and romantically involved with Drake from early 2010 to mid-2011. The lawsuit claims she is entitled to co-writer royalties from “Marvin’s Room,” which peaked at No. 21 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and has been certified gold. Drake allegedly recognized Lee’s role in text messages, saying, “U basically made that song,” and “It’s shit without you.”

Lee reportedly claims she and Drake decided to collaborate on “Marvin’s Room” and share the earnings. Drake asked her to record the hook and opening monologue, the lawsuit claims. “Plaintiff’s contribution is highly significant to the overall work,” the complaint is quoted as saying.

While Take Care‘s liner notes don’t mention Lee by name in an extensive list of thank-yous, a “Syren Lyric Muse” is credited for “additional vocals” on “Marvin’s Room.” What’s more, as the Hollywood Reporter points out, Lee and Drake filed a joint copyright claim for the song on June 9, when the track debuted on Drake’s blog. Cash Money Records filed a claim of its own on July 22.

Lee presumably wasn’t an ex at the time of the “Marvin’s Room” recording, but according to the complaint, she was on the receiving end of at least one disturbing phone call. After Lee retained an attorney in November, Drake allegedly called her up and said, “What the fuck is your problem?” Lee also claims he offered her 4 to 5 percent of publishing royalties, along with an extra $50,000 in hush money. That’s up from the 2 percent of publishing royalties Drake allegedly offered her not long after their relationship fell apart.

Lee is reportedly asking to be declared the co-author of the song. Claiming a breach of fiduciary duties and unjust enrichment, she’s seeking unspecified damages along with the reimbursement of profits from the song. Her lawyer, Neville Johnson, previously represented Playboy Enterprises in a copyright-infringement suit against Drake for allegedly sampling Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynold’s 1975 hit “Fallin’ in Love,” whose copyright Playboy owned. Expect Drake to turn all of this into moody, genre-confounding music in time for his third album.

There was a time, just six years ago, when one could profitably, if controversially, claim My Chemical Romance was “this generation’s Nirvana.” (New York magazine critic Nitsuh Abebe reflects on that moment in a wonderful recent essay.) The argument at the time had something to do with demographics — the thirtysomethings had the music-writing jobs, but the teenagers had the numbers — whereas now MCR lead singer Gerard Way is 34, and it’s looking increasingly like media fragmentation has rendered the idea of a new Nirvana irrelevant. The closest we’ve come, in terms of generation divides at least, might be the rise of American electronic dance music represented by last year’s SPIN cover star Skrillex (read our review of his new Bangarang here).

Way became a father in time for My Chem’s 2010 Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, and the beautiful thing is, the New Jersey emo-punks have continued to draw new legions of younger fans. As the Hollywood Reporter points out, 21-year-old Emily Eisemann put together a collage-style YouTube video called “My Chemical Romance – Celebrating 10 Years as a Band,” which inspired Way and the gang to ask her to take a similar approach as the director of a new video for Danger Days single “The Kids From Yesterday.” Watch the band behind 2006′s The Black Parade take a walk down memory lane, plus see Eisemann’s original video:

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There’s a really old episode of The Simpsons where Homer gives away a trophy he wins with his singing group, the Be Sharps (it’s kind of a long story). “Wow, an award statue!” exclaims the lucky recipient, who then sneers, “Aw, it’s a Grammy,” and flings the offending object from a balcony. (An off-screen voice shouts back, “Hey, don’t throw your garbage down here!”) This is all to say: Trent Reznor is a little like Homer Simpson.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the former Nine Inch Nails frontman lost track of his Grammy Awards over the course of several moves, and he isn’t in a hurry to find them again. “Why don’t the Grammys matter?” Reznor, whose NIN won two Grammys and was nominated for 12, is quoted as saying. “Because it feels rigged and cheap — like a popularity contest that the insiders club has decided.”

Reznor’s dismissive take on the Grammys comes shortly after singer-songwriter Justin Vernon, whose Bon Iver recently nabbed four Grammy nods, was forced to backpedal from his own Grammy-targeted derision. Asked 10 months earlier about the awards, Vernon told the New York Times he felt they were “ridiculous.” After the Times recently published the remarks, he tweeted that there was “room to grow, but I agree mostly.”

As for Reznor, he’s certainly no stranger to awards. Just this morning, he and musical partner Atticus Ross received a Golden Globe nomination for their The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo score, an award they won last year for their work on David Fincher’s 2010 film about Facebook, The Social Network. And of course, The Social Network also landed the two an Oscar. “Winning the Academy Award, I’m not ashamed to admit it,” Reznor’s quoted as saying. As the Hollywood Reporter points out, however, The Social Network score failed to receive even one Grammy nomination.

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Universal Music Group is fending off lawsuits from all comers over how it calculates artist royalties from digital downloads, according to the Hollywood Reporter. On Tuesday, a federal judged denied the label’s motion to dismiss one such class action suit led by Rob Zombie and the estate of Rick James. On Wednesday, Public Enemy’s Chuck D filed his own class action accusing the label of failing to give artists their proper cut of royalties from MP3s, ringtones, and other digital sales.

The lawsuits could lead to a massive windfall for royalty recipients. The argument boils down to whether digital downloads should be considered a “license” and what’s considered a “sale.” While copyright owners receive only 12 percent to 20 percent share of royalties from sales, they receive a 50 percent chunk of royalties from licenses, according to a previous report. In March, the U.S. Supreme Court opted not to review a case involving Eminem, in which an appellate court ruled that — at least when it comes to Slim Shady — digital downloads count as licenses and therefore require the higher royalty payment.

That difference in definitions could put labels on the hook for as much as $2.15 billion, the Future of Music Coalition has estimated — and that’s from iTunes sales alone. Of course, Universal has downplayed the significance of the Eminem ruling, saying the judge’s decision “does not create any legal precedent.” Now it will be up to a federal court in California to figure out what royalties might be owed to other recording artists and producers nationwide.

The Eminem lawsuit took a couple of years to wind its way through the courts, so a final decision — let alone any potential payout — might not be here for some time. “Chuck D has been ‘fighting the power’ for over two decades and will continue to do so through this suit in order to help all musicians, including many legacy artists who are living on fixed incomes,” a lawyer for the rapper tells THR. A UMG spokesman is quoted as saying, “This complaint suffers from serious flaws and weaknesses, not the least of which is that the claims asserted are not appropriate for class treatment.” Billions of dollars could be at stake for the ailing record biz.