- Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign have been accused of copyright infringement over their new album “Vultures 1.''
- According to the estate of Ozzy Osbourne and Donna Summer, West asked for permission but was denied.
- A copyright expert told Business Insider that the sample appears to be a “clear-cut” case against West.
If Kanye West really did take all those samples without permission for use on his latest album with Ty Dolla $ign, 'Vultures 1,' then he could be in legal trouble. .
West, also known by his stage name Ye, received a letter from the estates of Black Sabbath's original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne and the late disco icon Donna Summer, who both gave him permission to perform. He was accused of using samples of their music, even though he publicly said he denied it.
Last week, Summer's estate announced that West had re-recorded his 1977 hit “I Feel Love” in his song “Good (Don't Die),” changed the lyrics, and posted it on Instagram. announced that it had been accused of copyright infringement.
“Kanye West…asked for permission to use Donna Summer's song 'I Feel Love' and was denied…he changed the lyrics, had someone else sing it, used AI, but it didn't work. -Feel Love…Copyright Infringement!!!'' Billboard reported on a post that was added to the Donna Summer estate account article and then disappeared 24 hours later.
And, according to Osbourne, West swiped an instrumental clip of the band's 1983 rendition of “Iron Man” and used it for one of his songs at a listening party.osborne I wrote to X He said he refused permission to use the song because “he is an anti-Semite and has caused untold heartache to many.”
Representatives for Osborne and Sommer did not immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.
Kanye publicly praises Hitler
Last year, West came under intense scrutiny after making a series of anti-Semitic statements, including saying he was “stepping down.” “Death Fraud Against the Jews 3” He was temporarily banned from Instagram after posting comments deemed anti-Semitic and telling conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that he “loved Hitler.”
Ozzy Osbourne left Black Sabbath in 1979, but his wife Sharon Osbourne told Billboard that the license for songs written by the band (Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward) He said he needed approval from all four members.
West ended up using a sample of “Iron Man” in the final cut of the song and a sample of “Hell of a Life,” one of the songs on his album “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” , Sharon Osbourne said. rolling stone She said she and her husband were “considering legal action.”
According to Billboard, the album “Vultures 1” was temporarily removed from iTunes and Apple Music on Thursday due to copyright concerns, but the album was made available again hours later. In the end, the outlet reported that the album's release was not canceled due to copyright issues, but rather due to a dispute between distributor FUGA regarding the publication of the track.
“Late last year, FUGA was given the opportunity to release 'Vultures 1,'” a spokesperson said in a statement to Billboard. “In the ordinary course of business, we declined to do so.”
The statement continued: “On Friday, February 9, 2024, a long-time FUGA client violated our service agreement by distributing the album 'Vultures 1' through the platform's automated process. As a result, FUGA is actively working with its DSP partners and clients. We are cooperating with them,” he added. Delete “Vultures 1” from our system. ”
According to Billboard , “Vultures 1” is currently distributed by Label Engine.
But “Good (Don't Die),” a song that appears to sample portions of Donna Summer's 1977 hit “I Feel Love,” was removed from Spotify on Wednesday and posted on Amazon Music on Thursday. Billboard has also followed suit. At the time of publication, the single has not returned to either platform.
Limited right to sample other artists
Ty Dolla $ign (real name Tyrone William Griffin Jr.) has not publicly commented on the matter.
In a cryptic Instagram post last year (his only public mention of the incident to date), West posted a photo of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne dressed as West and his wife Bianca Sensori in Halloween costumes. posted.
West wrote in the photo's caption that Ozzy “obviously has a celebrity handler on his account,” the Daily Mail reported.
Regardless of the social media dispute, legal experts say if that were the case, unauthorized use of the samples would amount to “clear” copyright infringement.
“This was clear from what I saw, and Kanye's reaction shows that it was clear that he had altered the work. He did not object to it,” Carter & Woodard said. Donald M. Woodard, the company's entertainment attorney, told Business Insider.
Woodard explained that West would have needed to clear both the master recording and the underlying song, meaning Osbourne and Summer could have copyrighted one or both of the song elements. Even if West re-recorded the music (which removed the need to clear the master recording), he would still have to clear the composition.
As for how West and Ty Dolla $ign were able to release songs that included other copyrighted material, Woodard said it's common for artists in the music industry to sneak in samples. Told.
“Major labels have clearance departments and they actually have people on staff who listen and have very keen ears when there might be samples or interpolations,” Woodard said. “This is not unusual because the artist will then be notified and their team will have to confirm whether they want to clear the record or clear the use.”
There are several scenarios in which copying a portion of someone else's work can appear to be infringing. Still, the sample is legally admissible, corporate litigator Robert Freund told BI.
He said the two scenarios include fair use and “de minimis” use. This means that some of the content being sampled is so rarely taken from the original work that no one can recognize where it came from.
“If this situation were to become a lawsuit, Kanye West would not be able to make a minimal claim,” Freund told BI. “Because I heard the sample that he sampled. And the whole point of him sampling it is that everyone recognizes it's an 'Iron Man' riff. It's It's like one of the most famous guitar riffs in rock history. That's crazy.”
Similarly, Mr. West would not be able to take advantage of the fair use argument, Mr. Freund added. In determining whether a copy of an existing work is fair use, courts consider the purpose of the new work, whether the new work is transformative in any way, and how much of the original will be used. Consider a series of factors, such as:
“It's really a case-by-case decision,” Freund told BI. “However, in my opinion, none of the factors the court would consider would favor Kanye in such a scenario.”
No stranger to sampling, West has built a career on creating music that draws on a variety of artists and genres, from gospel to rock to funk. Ye had previously legitimately sampled “Iron Man” in his book. 2010 song “Hell of a Life”.
Osbourne's latest objection to West's sample would be considered a new copyright claim, since the usage license does not allow West to sample the song in perpetuity. And while Osbourne's opinions about West as a person have nothing to do with copyright claims, Freund said, “Ozzy believes that this kind of unauthorized sampling monetizes derivative uses of his work. “There will be a valid argument for disabling them,” he added.
Mr. West previously found himself in a quagmire in search of unprocessed samples. In 2022, Chicago artist Marshall Jefferson accused the rapper of using his own song “Move Your Body” on a Chicago music show. West's song “Flowers” without permission.
Representatives for West and Griffin did not immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.
