There is nothing more frustrating than turning on the radio and hearing the original tune you created playing alongside other lyrics and a new arrangement, without receiving basic credit, let alone royalties.
The anger deepens when you discover that a particularly famous figure “stole the rights to the original,” pretending to have written and performed it, especially after the original song was launched and published several years earlier.
The American singer Cardi B is involved in a copyright claim of 50 million dollars to the pair of rappers Joshua Fraustro and Miguel Aguilar, who make up producer duo Kemika1956, who claims that she copied their song “Greasy Frybread,” which she published successfully in March 2024 under the name Enough — (Miami).
It should be noted that this is a very extreme lawsuit protocol in its scope, in which it is claimed, among other things, that the copying of the entire composition caused heavy damage to their musical career, led to financial losses, and irreversible damage to their reputation, to the marketing potential of the music, along with “damages that cannot be repaired” and harmed their good name.
Upon quick listening, the beats and melody of both songs are indeed similar, almost identical.
Copyright theft of a complete song only sometimes creates image and marketing damage. Sometimes the opposite is true, so if we delve into the details in this specific case, we will find that the song by the pair of rappers who accuse Cardi of copying was released in the summer of 2021, and in a quick review, garnered 765 thousand views on YouTube in three years, compared to Cardi B’s version which managed to garner over 31 million views on YouTube in three months.
Cardi B is a successful singer on an international scale, located in #133 place on Spotify with 25 million followers and over 31 million listens per month. Some argue that the high-profile lawsuit of the pair of rappers has boosted their career more than any other marketing effort while they are riding on the wave of Mrs. B’s meteoric success, which may bring them millions of dollars in the coming years if only they knew how to leverage the publicity based on this lawsuit professionally and properly.
It is well known that lawsuits of this type tend to bring justice to light after a protracted struggle of many years between the walls of the court, especially when it comes to huge sums like in this case.
Experts claim that the publication of the substance of the lawsuit and the release of the news story to the press around the world created a renewed recognition around the world of the pair of rappers and increased interest in them from the back door, which can continue to create media echoes for them and attach interested parties to them alongside new fans if they will continue to focus on the joy of creation and leverage the negative publicity they have created in their favor, so that the tens of millions of dollars they are demanding, they will be able to get from hard work.
Cardi B has not publicly responded to the lawsuit or the allegations. Still, it appears that the successful rapper has managed to send mixed signals to her fans about the future of her music career and has managed to undermine it long before a judge does. Mrs. B sended mixed messages to her fans in recent months about her continued music career, and claiming that The album is not coming out this year, I’m going to release some songs and take this period as a vacation.”
In recent years, we have been aware of more and more lawsuits, especially among famous artists who dare to steal the copyrights of other famous artists and do it with their heads held high while taking the risk of a significant lawsuit.
If we look back, we will find that other notable copyright claims in the music industry include the:
Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams vs. Marvin Gaye’s estate: The song “Blurred Lines” was found to have copied Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up,” leading to a $7.4 million settlement.
Led Zeppelin vs. Spirit: The iconic band is being sued over claims that “Stairway to Heaven” copied Spirit’s “Taurus.” The lawsuit ultimately settled in favor of Led Zeppelin.
Sam Smith vs. Tom Petty: Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” is found to be similar to Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” Smith agreed to give Patty co-writing credits and a portion of the royalties.
Katy Perry vs. Flame: Perry’s song “Dark Horse” allegedly copied Flame’s “Joyful Noise,” resulting in a $2.78 million judgment against Perry, which was later overturned.
Ed Sheeran vs. Marvin Gaye’s estate: Sheeran is being sued over his song “Thinking Out Loud,” which copies Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” The case is still being heard in court.
These high-profile cases highlight the complexity and high stakes involved in copyright disputes in the music industry.
These were isolated cases that received media coverage, but the courts around the world are full of copyright claims of this type. To be precise, the theft of rights in their entirety still occurs among artists who are especially famous on an international scale. These artists have not yet been sued but manage to annex the entire tunes or part of a song and ride on a wave of others’ success.
From a karmic point of view, these artists are famous but are quite neglected by the decision-makers and important key figures in the industry who despise them for it and keep their loyalty to the owners of the original rights.
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