{"id":81798,"date":"2022-07-01T00:00:18","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T00:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=133523"},"modified":"2022-07-01T00:00:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T00:00:18","slug":"kanye-west-sued-for-allegedly-sampling-chicago-house-legend-marshall-jeffersons-music-without-permission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessnewsbox.com\/?p=81798","title":{"rendered":"Kanye West sued for allegedly sampling Chicago House legend Marshall Jefferson\u2019s music without permission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kanye West has been hit with a lawsuit for the alleged copyright infringement of a sample used in the track Flowers<\/em> on his Donda 2<\/em> album.<\/p>\n

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The legal action was filed in New York on Wednesday (June 29) by Ultra International Music Publishing, citing its client \u2013 Chicago House music pioneer Marshall Jefferson \u2013 who, as the lawsuit states, is \u201coften referred to as the Father of House Music\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to the 11-page lawsuit \u2013 which you can read in full through here<\/a> \u2013 West\u2019s song Flowers<\/em> features a sample of Jefferson\u2019s \u201cInstantly recognizable\u201d track, Move Your Body.<\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n

The lawsuit claims that the Marshall Jefferson sample used in Flowers<\/em> was \u201cunauthorized\u201d and was \u201crepeated at least 22 times throughout\u201d West\u2019s own song.<\/p>\n

In a comment provided to MBW, Jefferson explained how he feels about the alleged infringement of his work.<\/p>\n

He stated: \u201cI\u2019ve been sampled thousands of times. For that reason I\u2019ve never and will never sample another artist, because I know the feelings involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Jefferson: \u201cGetting done by another artist, a BLACK artist, a fellow Chicagoan without acknowledgment is disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n

West released Flowers <\/em>as part of his album, Donda 2, <\/em> in February 2022, exclusively via his Stem Player.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit claims that West also used Flowers<\/em> \u201cas a means of promoting the Stem Player and the Album, including in a February 18, 2022 post to the official Instagram [320 articles]” href=”https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/companies\/facebook\/instagram\/”>Instagram<\/a> profile for the Stem Player, and during a live listening party in Miami on February 22, 2022?.<\/p>\n

Kanye\u2019s handheld Stem device, which retails for $200 in the US, allows users to isolate separate stems for drums, vocals, bass, samples in West\u2019s music (or their own music). The Stem player also player lets users layer these stems to create their own loops from them.<\/p>\n

You might remember that back in February, Ye claimed<\/a> that he generated over $2 million in sales from the Stem Player in its first three days on the market.<\/p>\n

The initial financial success of the Stem player is noted in the lawsuit, which adds further that, \u201cUnfortunately, and contrary to his claimed interest in the proper compensation and fair treatment of all artists, West, has not shared his success with at least one well know artist and writer whose work he sampled and exploited without authorization or compensation in the creation of Donda 2\u201d.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the lawsuit, it is claimed that West and his reps acknowledged during discussions with representatives for Jefferson and Ultra International Music Publishing that Jefferson\u2019s track was sampled \u201cwithout authorization or payment to UIMP or Marshall Jefferson\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u201cManifesting the height of hypocrisy, West advocates for artists\u2019 rights with one hand, yet has no shame in taking away rights from another artist with the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultra International Music Publishing<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The lawsuit adds: \u201cDespite this acknowledgement, West has not ceased distribution of Flowers<\/em>. Defendants\u2019 conduct is willful and deliberate. Defendants know and have been informed that they do not possess a license to utilize the Composition in the Unauthorized Work, and yet continue to willfully infringe in blatant disregard of UIMP\u2019s rights of ownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cWest\u2019s unauthorized use of Move Your Body<\/em> constitutes an unambiguous infringement of the copyright in the musical composition Move Your Body<\/em>, and of course is a blatant exploitation of a Chicago artist\u2019s work without permission and compensation.<\/p>\n

\u201cManifesting the height of hypocrisy, West advocates for artists\u2019 rights with one hand, yet has no shame in taking away rights from another artist with the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultra is demanding a trial by jury, plus \u201cprofits and for damages in such amount as may be determined; alternatively, for maximum statutory damages in the amount of $150,000\u201d per infringement.<\/p>\n

If each infringement is counted as each one of the sales of Kanye\u2019s Stem player, which the lawsuit states is at least 11,000 units, then the total damages sought could exceed $1.65 billion.<\/strong>Music Business Worldwide<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kanye West has been hit with a lawsuit for the alleged copyright infringement of a sample used in the track Flowers on his Donda 2 album. The legal action was filed in New York on Wednesday (June 29) by Ultra International Music Publishing, citing its client \u2013 Chicago House music pioneer Marshall Jefferson \u2013 who, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business-worldwide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessnewsbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessnewsbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessnewsbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessnewsbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessnewsbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businessnewsbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81798\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businessnewsbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessnewsbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businessnewsbox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}