The number of celebrity artists who have been mentioned in this blog as being involved in copyright infringement is now up to seven.
Gospel singers Clara Shepherd Warrick and Jimmy Lee Weary have filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group, as well as four different celebrity artists, for infringing their copyright on the song I’m so grateful (Keep in Touch). The song in question (the one that has been alleged to have infringed copyright) is 3 Kings. 3 Kings features four celebrity artists: Rick Ross (real name William Leonard Roberts II), Dr. Dre (real name Andre Romelle Young), producer Jake One (real name Jacob Dutton), and Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter). Regular readers of this blog will note that Jay-Z was already featured in this blog for alleged copyright infringement earlier this month.
The plaintiffs claim that neither the record label nor the artists involved contacted them for permission to sample the song. This is despite the fact that 3 Kings lists Warrick as one of the writers.
The situation for the defendants may be significantly worse when one considers the lyrics of 3 Kings in light of I’m so grateful. 3 Kings contains very explicit lyrics and arguably glorifies drug and objectifies women. I’m so grateful on the other hand, as a gospel song, conveys a slightly different message.
I want to pause here for a second; lets take a step back and consider the allegations that are made. If the allegations are true, these artists have sampled a song; published it; and distributed it worldwide to a global audience without seeking any form of permission. This is all within the same industry that is constantly advocating the supposed dangers of piracy. So if the allegations are true, we can conclude one of two things. Either the industry is so arrogant that it believes that the rules that have been established do not apply to them, or are they are so ignorant that they can’t keep track of the same rules that they are lobbying to keep (and in some cases make even stricter).
http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=840349
