When it comes to musical irreverence, Ye is in a class of his own. It takes a rare iconoclasticism to sample a song of a man singing “This is my song and no one can take it away” and transform it into one of your hugest Graduation hits. But at least Ye knew to get the sample greenlit before he changed “My Song” into his. During the wildly hyped Donda release train, four musicians didn’t get the same courtesy of clearing the same. Ye played them anyway; a jury just returned a verdict that doing so will cost him. Rolling Stone has coverage:
Kanye West is on the hook for six-figure damages after a jury found he infringed the copyright of an unreleased demo track by sampling it in an early version of his Grammy-winning song “Hurricane” that he played for 40,000 fans at a sold-out Donda listening concert five years ago.
In a verdict delivered Tuesday afternoon, eight jurors unanimously decided that West, now known as Ye, is personally liable for $176,153, and his company, Yeezy LLC, is liable for $176,153. His retail merchandising companies, Yeezy Supply and Mascotte Holdings, were found liable for $41,625 and $44,627, respectively.
You can listen to the sampled track, MSD PT 2, here:
The outcome is unsurprising given that he admitted at trial that he played “Hurricane” without any standing agreement with the artists he sampled.
The verdict is a rounding error for Ye in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a win for small artists that challenged one of the biggest names in the industry. That said, it is hard to know if this win will have much spillover when it comes to Ye’s future sampling. His legal team couches the lawsuit as a money grab and, despite his testimony at trial, stated that he was very generous when it came to working with collaborators.
TL;DR: Make sure all of the samples are cleared before you drop a highly anticipated album.
Kanye West Loses at Trial Over Uncleared Sample on ‘Hurricane’[Rolling Stone]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn’t hurt either. You can reach him by email at christopherrashadwilliams@gmail.com and by Tweet/Bluesky at @WritesForRent.
The post Copyright Infringement At Album Release Party Costs Kanye ~$200K appeared first on Above the Law.
When it comes to musical irreverence, Ye is in a class of his own. It takes a rare iconoclasticism to sample a song of a man singing “This is my song and no one can take it away” and transform it into one of your hugest Graduation hits. But at least Ye knew to get the sample greenlit before he changed “My Song” into his. During the wildly hyped Donda release train, four musicians didn’t get the same courtesy of clearing the same. Ye played them anyway; a jury just returned a verdict that doing so will cost him. Rolling Stone has coverage:
Kanye West is on the hook for six-figure damages after a jury found he infringed the copyright of an unreleased demo track by sampling it in an early version of his Grammy-winning song “Hurricane” that he played for 40,000 fans at a sold-out Donda listening concert five years ago.
In a verdict delivered Tuesday afternoon, eight jurors unanimously decided that West, now known as Ye, is personally liable for $176,153, and his company, Yeezy LLC, is liable for $176,153. His retail merchandising companies, Yeezy Supply and Mascotte Holdings, were found liable for $41,625 and $44,627, respectively.
You can listen to the sampled track, MSD PT 2, here:
The outcome is unsurprising given that he admitted at trial that he played “Hurricane” without any standing agreement with the artists he sampled.
The verdict is a rounding error for Ye in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a win for small artists that challenged one of the biggest names in the industry. That said, it is hard to know if this win will have much spillover when it comes to Ye’s future sampling. His legal team couches the lawsuit as a money grab and, despite his testimony at trial, stated that he was very generous when it came to working with collaborators.
TL;DR: Make sure all of the samples are cleared before you drop a highly anticipated album.
Kanye West Loses at Trial Over Uncleared Sample on ‘Hurricane’[Rolling Stone]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boat builder who is learning to swim and is interested in rhetoric, Spinozists and humor. Getting back in to cycling wouldn’t hurt either. You can reach him by email at christopherrashadwilliams@gmail.com and by Tweet/Bluesky at @WritesForRent.
The post Copyright Infringement At Album Release Party Costs Kanye ~$200K appeared first on Above the Law.
