Tracy Chapman sues Nicki Minaj about "sorry"



[ad_1]

Three months after Nicki Minaj Queen The album would have been delayed due to a problem of customs clearance of the sample, the dispute landed in court. Tracy Chapman's lawyer tells Display panel that he filed a complaint against Minaj in Los Angeles Monday, October 22 for violation of copyright Queen the song "Sorry" with Nas, which interpolates the lyrics and the melody of the 1988 song of Chapman "Baby Can I Hold You".

Minaj's team has repeatedly asked for a license for the song since Chapman's debut, but according to Lee Phillips' longtime advocate, "Tracy Chapman is very protective of her rights and she has the right to refuse a license on request. " Phillips adds that Chapman has potentially received "hundreds" of requests over the decades to sample or interpolate his music and that, as far as he knows, she has never granted one. In this case, it has nothing to do with Minaj or the quality of her song – which, according to Phillips, samples another singer performing "Baby" in a live recording – but is rather related to Chapman's highly confidential policy in cover material. sampling.

The complaint, filed against Minaj (née Onika Maraj) and 10 other anonymous defendants, explains that Chapman's representatives "repeatedly denied" Minaj's requests to use the song after "Sorry" had already been recorded and that the piece was then leaked to the New York DJ. Funkmaster Flex, who told on social media that Nicki had given him something of "ft @nas" that "does not concern him[[[[Queen]The song was then aired on Hot 97 and, according to Phillips, quickly spread on the Internet.

"This action is necessary to repair Maraj's disregard and deliberate violation of Chapman's rights under the Copyright Act, and to ensure that his fault is not repeated," reads in the pursuit. Because "Sorry" clearly incorporates the lyrics and vocal melody of the composition, its most recognizable and memorable parts, "including" about half of the counterfeit work ", without permission, was forced to file the complaint on behalf of of his client once the song is ready.was played on the radio; The prosecution notes that "towards the" July 16, 2018, Chapman's business leaders informed the Minaj team that they would not accept permission to use the song.

The Minaj leader then asked the Chapman team to speak up to discuss the "idea". [of Maraj’s] it's one of the most personal for her inspired by [Chapman’s] art that [Maraj] would like to have the opportunity to touch (sic) with [Chapman] sure. Later, Minaj also contacted Chapman in a tweet – Phillips says the singer has no presence on social networks – and directly asked Chapman to clear the license of the song. The August 11 tweet "Sis says no" of Minaj, now deleted, could indicate that Chapman was refusing to erase the sample.

After a series of tweets on August 11, Flex (born Aston George Taylor Jr.) played the song on his Hot 97 show that night; the song would then have been played on Power 105 The breakfast club two days later. Because the song spread far and wide, including in Nigeria, Phillips explained that it had become difficult to find all the sites that had published it so far. The prosecution seeks to prevent Minaj from "copying, using or otherwise exploiting the infringing work" and preventing any third party from doing so, as well as damages for Chapman from any profit made by Minaj on the track . Click here to see a copy of the costume.

"There is no doubt that it is an offense," said Phillips, senior partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. "If anyone asks what will be Nicki Minaj's defense, we have no idea."

A Minaj spokesperson could not be contacted for comment at the time of going to press.

[ad_2]
Source link