Music Meets Law

The music industry is based on creating art for listening. Most artists find themselves being inspired by other artists and that sometimes comes out in their work. There are also times when artists actually sample another artist’s work, whether it is music, visual art, or video art. Sampling from other artists must be handled very carefully in order to avoid lawsuits that could end in huge monetary payouts—I’m talking MILLIONS! There are so many cases when artists are sued for plagiarism or copyright infringement for not being careful or handling using someone else’s work in the proper manner. Plenty of times these artists deny that they have used the artist that’s suing work. The commonalities are usually very subtle or wouldn’t be easily recognized by fans and the public in general. I am going to discuss three different situations where artists were accused of violating intellectual property rights. Many times these cases are long and drawn out in court.

The first case involves R&B singer Trey Songz and his hit song “Bottoms Up,” featuring female rapper Nicki Minaj. Production company Doc Mob Records, along with iHip Hop Music and Passion, Pain and Pleasure album. They claim that they originally produced the track and that it was supposed to be “under their imprint.” Doc Mob later teamed up with Price and Beatz to further produce the track. Kodak was kind of an innocent bystander that was caught in the fire because they used the track in a campaign.

Derrick Price filed an $18 million lawsuit against Songz, his record label Atlantic Records, Kodak, producer Kane Beatz, and his manager Gee Robertson. The suit was filed in February of 2011. The lawsuit accuses Songz and his team of not giving Doc Mob credit for production of the track in the liner notes of Songz’s

More recently, rapper Kanye West was sued by former child start Ricky Spicer that alleges that West used his vocals without permission in his song “Bound 2” from his Yeezus album. The suit was filed December 23, 2013 in Manhattan Supreme Court. The vocals in question is allegedly from Spicer’s childhood soul group called the Ponderosa Twins Plus One and a track they recorded called “Bound.” Spicer demands that West either cease use of the vocals or pay him for using them. Also named in the lawsuit were West’s labels, Roc-A-Fella Records, Universal Music Group, Island Def Jam, and Rhino Entertainment. West and label have not made any statements regarding the lawsuit as of yet.

The final case involves rapper Jay-Z being sued over his Roc-A-Fella records logo. Clothing designer Dwayne Walker named Jay-Z and his team in a $7 million lawsuit accusing them of unpaid royalties because he claims to have created the Roc-A-Fella’s logo back in 1995. Walker doesn’t like the fact that the logo is signature and universal as pertaining to Roc-A-Fella and Jay-Z’s business. He feels that since he created the logo, he is entitled to royalties over the years. The suit was also filed in Manhattan Federal Court in July 12 of 2012.  Just one month prior to this suit, Jay-Z was also the defendant of another lawsuit accusing him of plagiarism. Author Patrick White claimed that Jay-Z stole “portions of his writing and then used it for his own memoir, “Decoded.”

I’ve discussed artists being sued for not crediting producers, using vocals without permission, unpaid royalties for a logo and plagiarism. When it comes to using something that you didn’t completely create yourself, it is better to go through ALL of the proper channels for rights and know what you are and are not allowed to use. It could save you millions.