Donna Summer’s Estate Sues Kanye West For Copyright Infringement
Written by djfrosty on February 28, 2024
Source: Mattia Ozbot – Inter / Getty
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s collaborative album, Vultures 1, has only been out for a second, but already the two artists are being taken to court over it. Both artists are being accused of copyright infringement (kinda) by the Donna Summer’s estate.
According to Digital Music News, Kanye West tried to clear a sample from Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” from her estate. Though he was denied permission to do so at the time, the sample ended up on their song, “Good (Don’t Die)”, anyway in a weird way. Taking to Instagram to express their anger over the situation, her estate wrote: “Kanye West… asked permission to use Donna Summer’s song ‘I Feel Love,’ he was denied, he changed the words, had someone re-sing it or used AI but it’s ‘I Feel Love’—copyright infringement!”
Well, that’s one way to try to get around a copyright situation.
The lawsuit comes after both Nicki Minaj and even Ozzy Osborne denied samples of their music to be used on Kanye’s Vultures 1 album with Ozzy taking issue with Ye sampling his song “Iron Man” without his permission. As to how this will play out given that Kanye didn’t exactly sample the original Donna Summer song, should be interesting in this new day and age of AI and digital enhancements.
Per Digital Music News:
Sudano says in January 2024 someone from Alien Music reached out on behalf of the rappers to confirm its ownership of the “I Feel Love” composition and to request permission for sampling. “In considering the Defendant’s request, the Summer estate not only considered the immense commercial value of the composition, but also the potential degradation to Summer’s legacy,” the lawsuit reads.
“West is known as a controversial public figure whose conduct has led numerous brands and business partners to disassociate from him,” the suit continues. The estate denied permission to sample in early February, which it defined as “an absolute prohibition against any licensee (or other recording artist) covering I FEEL LOVE from using a Donna Summer ‘soundalike’ or using the original Donna Summer recording.”
The Vultures 1 album was released to the public on February 10, with the “Good (Don’t Die)” track featuring the song. “In the face of these repeated denials, West and Co-Defendants attempted to get around this roadblock by instead making an unauthorized interpolation,” the lawsuit alleges. The track has since been removed from Spotify and other major DSPs at the request of the Summer estate.
Ye might have to hold this sample L when it’s all said and done.
What do y’all think? Is Kanye wrong for trying to recreate Donna Summer’s song after being denied permission to sample it? Let us know in the comments section.