Kanye West sued for allegedly sampling Chicago House legend Marshall Jefferson’s music without permission
Kanye West was sued for allegedly infringing the copyright of a sample used in the song The flowers on his Donda 2 album.
The legal suit was filed by Ultra International Music Publishing in New York on Wednesday (June 29), citing their client – Chicago House music pioneer Marshall Jefferson – who, as the suit filed, “often called the Father of House Music”.
According to the 11-page lawsuit – that you can Read the whole thing here – West’s song The flowers there’s a sample of Jefferson’s “Instantly Recognisable” sheet music, Move your body.
The lawsuit claims that the Marshall Jefferson form was used in The flowers is “unauthorized” and has been “repeated at least 22 times throughout West’s own song”.
In a comment provided to MBW, Jefferson explained how he feels about the alleged conduct infringing on his work.
“I have been sampled thousands of times,” he said. For that reason, I have never and will never sample another artist, because I know the emotions involved. “
Jefferson added: “It’s disappointing to have it done by another artist, a BLACK artist, a Chicago colleague.”
West released The flowers as part of his album, Donda 2, in February 2022, exclusively through his Stem Player.
The lawsuit claims that West also used The flowers “As a means of promoting Stem Player and Album, included in a February 18, 2022 post for the official Instagram records for Stem Player, and during a live listening party in Miami on February 22, 2022 ″.
Kanye’s handheld Stem, which retails for $200 in the US, allows users to isolate separate roots for drums, vocals, bass, samples in West’s music (or their own music) . The Stem Player also allows users to layer these trunks to create their own loops out of them.
You can remember that in February, Ye declare that he generated over $2 million in revenue from Stem Player in his first three days on the market.
The Stem player’s early financial success is credited to the lawsuit, which adds, “Unfortunately, and contrary to his concern for proper compensation and fair treatment for all artists, West, has not shared his success with at least one known artist and writer whose work he has sampled and exploited without authorization or compensation in the creation of Donda 2”.
Elsewhere in the lawsuit, it is alleged that West and his representatives admitted in discussion with representatives of Jefferson and Ultra International Music Publishing that Jefferson’s track was sampled “without authorize or pay UIMP or Marshall Jefferson”.
“Exhibiting the pinnacle of hypocrisy, West supports the rights of artists with one hand, but is unashamed to deprive another artist of the rights with the other.”
Ultra International Music Publishing
The lawsuit adds: “Despite this admission, West has not stopped distributing The flowers. The defendants’ conduct was intentional and intentional. Defendants knew and were informed that they did not have a license to use Composition in Unauthorized Work, but continued to knowingly and blatantly infringe UIMP’s proprietary rights.
“The Unauthorized Use of West Move your body constitutes a clear violation of copyright in musical composition Move your bodyand of course the blatant exploitation of the work of a Chicago artist without permission and compensation.
“Exhibiting the pinnacle of hypocrisy, West supports the rights of artists with one hand, but is unashamed to deprive another artist of the rights with the other.”
Ultra is asking for a jury trial, plus “profits and damages of such amounts may be determined; alternatively, for statutory damages up to the amount of $150,000” per breach.
If each violation counts as each sale of Kanye’s Stem players, which the suit claims is at least 11,000 units, the total damages sought could exceed 1.65 billion dollars.Worldwide music business
