FEATURE:
Levitating or Lifted?
IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa photographed for DAZED’s Summer 2023 edition/PHOTO CREDIT: Thibaut Grevet
Why a New Copyright Claim Around Remixes of Dua Lipa’s Hit Song Is All Talk
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SOMETHING that has been featured….
IN THIS PHOTO: Missy Elliott (far left) and Madonna (far right) featuring in The Blessed Madonna’s (centre right) remix of Dua Lipa’s Levitating
more in music news is copyright claims and intellectual theft. Artists such as Ed Sheeran, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. Have faced challenges regarding the authenticity and originality of their huge songs. These cases were either all won or dropped, so it seems suspicious that various smaller songwriters and artists launch these claims against huge songs that have made a lot of money and been streamed millions of times. You don’t hear of two many album cuts or smaller songs being challenged and spotlighted as containing lifted hooks, melodies or similar phrasing. In most cases, there is a very slight similarity between songs. Given the number of songs written and released each year, it is always going to happen. You will get songs unintentionally sounding he same. Major artists do not lift or nick bits of other songs deliberately. That is a major risk. What one does find is that a major hit by, say, Ed Sheeran has some familiar edges to it. You play it against another song someone says Sheeran pinched something from and it is never really compelled or too blatant. Without too much evidence and substantiality to the copyright claim, they are dropped or the claimant is defeated – and you wonder whether cashing in and exploiting an artist is motivation over protecting their intellectual property and songwriting.
IN THIS PHOTO: Ed Sheeran/PHOTO CREDIT: Kate Green/Getty Images
I mention this because, like Ed Sheeran (as per The Guardian “…the heirs of Marvin Gaye’s co-writer Ed Townsend had previously sued Sheeran, his record label Warner Music Group and his music publisher Sony Music Publishing, alleging that Thinking Out Loud infringed on Let’s Get It On’s copyright”) Dua Lipa has been challenged more than once regarding copyright claims. In fact, the song Levitating which was a hugely successful single from her second studio album, Future Nostalgia (and has been streaming on Spotify nearly two billion times), has been brought to a courtroom more than once. This article from The Guardian explains more:
“Dua Lipa faces third lawsuit over Levitating
Multimillion-dollar lawsuit claims the singer unlawfully used a talk box recording from her smash single on subsequent remixes
A multimillion-dollar copyright claim filed in Los Angeles on Monday by musician Bosko Kante claims the singer and Warner Music Group unlawfully used a recording made with his talk box in remixes of the single, the most popular track off her 2020 album Future Nostalgia.
The suit cites a spoken agreement between Kante and creators of the song that his talk box recording could only be used in the original recording, but not subsequent remixes. Kante seeks more than $20m for alleged copyright infringement on several remixes, including one with The Blessed Madonna, the smash remix featuring rapper DaBaby and a performance by Lipa at the American Music Awards.
Kante has yet to comment on the matter, but Billboard reported that lawyers for the musician claim he “made numerous attempts to resolve this matter short of litigation, but such efforts were unsuccessful, due to Defendants’ unwillingness to cooperate or accept responsibility for this blatant infringement of Plaintiff’s copyrights”.
“All three remixes sampled and incorporated a greater amount of plaintiff’s work than that used in the original version,” the suit claims. “Defendants did not seek or receive any authorization or permission to use the composition or sound recording of plaintiff’s work from plaintiff.”
Representatives for the 27-year-old British-Albanian singer were not immediately available for comment.
Kante bills himself as one of the world’s top artists on the talk box, which allows musicians to modify the sound of an instrument and apply speech sounds. He has contributed talk box performances to Kanye West and Big Boi, and in 2014 founded a company called ElectroSpit to sell a proprietary digital version of the tool.
This suit is the third legal action brought against the song Levitating. In March 2022, the Florida-based reggae band Artikal Sound System claimed Lipa stole Levitating’s core hook from their 2017 song Live Your Life. The band dropped their case in June 2023 after a judge ruled there was no evidence the creators of Levitating, including Lipa, had “access” to the earlier track – a key element of a copyright infringement suit.
Another 2022 lawsuit by the songwriters L Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer remains in limbo but faces a similar “access” argument from Lipa’s lawyers. The songwriters claim Lipa lifted the melody of Levitating from their lesser-known 1979 song Wiggle and Giggle All Night and 1980 track Don Diablo. Lawyers for the singer claim she had never heard either track before creating Levitating”.
IN THIS PHOTO: The Blessed Madonna
I don’t expect this third lawsuit will lead to Dua Lipa and her label suffering any defeat or having to pay royalties. I am not sure what ownership and copyright laws are but, if it was allowed to feature on Levitating, why would it also not be permitted to appear on remixes? It is a grey area, but I don’t think that Warner or the producers of the remixes were trying to dupe or misleads him at all. Normally, when one song gets so many different people claiming it was stolen from them, you tend to find it is more about money-making rather than there being any substance to their lawsuit. I would expect this to go the way of Lipa but, if not, it will be a worry for artists. In terms of the remixes, talk box recording(a) from Bosko Kante would not have been stolen or used deliberately I’d imagine. It does put undeserved negative focus on Dua Lipa who, to be fair, would not have known about the original deal or been looped into the ins and outs of the remixes’ deals and conversations between the Warne label r and Kante. It does seem like a complicated case, but I don’t think that the remixes deliberately defrauded him or intended to steal his innovation. It seems unlikely that any early talks fell through unless he was asking for substantial payment for his recording to be used. I assume Kante would have been paid and signed on his talk box recording being used on the original.
What would the motivating be for suing because the remixes might not have cleared it? If it is a sake of fair payment then that is fair enough. It does seem quite opportune and suspicious granted the amount he is seeking - and where did such a ridiculously high figure come from? It seems a bit odd that Levitating, which was released several years ago, is being taken to court still. The remixes are comparatively fresh but, still, why the delay?! Now that the original track has got almost two billion streams and the remixes are doing pretty well in that respect - and Dua Lipa is an even bigger artist than she was in 2020, having appeared in films like Barbie and accruing even more followers online -, there is this element of opportunism. It seems very suspicious that there is a claim that has no real conviction to it. Any claims of theft and unauthorised use of talk box recordings seem a little weak – and I would expect the court to see that and rule in favour of Dua Lipa. It makes me wonder how many other people will try and claim Levitating took something from another song/sound. Will another Dua Lipa song be targeted?! Most major artists have to worry that multiple artists and sources will come after their songs.
IN THIS PHOTO: Bosko Kante
I do respect artists and estates protecting their rights. Also, if you sign one deal and it is left there, it is duplicitous going around someone’s back and taking advantage of their recording and permission. It isn’t on if an artist knowingly rips from them and makes a lot of money. That happened a lot in the past, especially with Hip-Hop, but things are very different today. Very few artists would hear a song they liked from the past and graft that into their track without crediting and asking for permission. It is too risky to do so and, with these often-prolonged court cases, it can be very damaging and take a lot of time away from the artists accused. I am not sure what the upshot will be from the new Levitation remixes copyright claim but, with Bosko Kante asking for $20 million, that has almost worked against him. Such a ludicrously high amount – Dua Lipa hasn’t earned that much from the song or the remixes herself! – is disproportionate and greedy! That argument as to whether the claim is trying to capitalise on Lipa’s fortune or it is a genuine musician who wants to ensure that they are credited is easy to answer here: it is another person grasping at straws! I would suspect that the issue of whether the recording could be used on remixes was not raised. It might have been part of that original clause. Even though it is a distinct and he may have helped to pioneer a particular sound and distinction, I can’t see anyone involved with the case ruling in his favour – especially for the amount of money he is trying to get from this! That said, if the new court claim does end in defeat for the treasured British-Albanian artist, then it could be a big worry…
FOR every major artist out there.