Madonna Hit With Lawsuit Over 'Vogue' Sample

Madonna performs during the MDNA tour at Ullevi in Gothenburg, Sweden on July 4th, 2012.

A Delaware company has hit Madonna and her label WB Records with a lawsuit claiming the pop star stole portions of one of their songs for her hit 1990 hit "Vogue," reports E!. Pointing to a song called "Love Break," released around 1977, VMG claims, "The portions of 'Love Break,' which have been copied into 'Vogue' and all its various 'mixes,' 'remixes,' videos, YouTube versions, etc., are numerous but intentionally hidden. The horn and strings in 'Vogue' are intentionally sampled from 'Love Break' throughout."

The company also says music producer Richard "Shep" Pettibone facilitated the process by altering the samples after he was originally hired by VMG to remix "Love Break," later working on "Vogue." "The unauthorized sampling was deliberately hidden by [Madonna] within 'Vogue' so as to avoid detection. It was only when VMG specifically looked for the sample, with the technology available to it in 2011, that the sampling could be confirmed," VMG said.

VMG claims they served WB Records with a copyright infringement notice in July 2011 and February 2012 and are seeking damages on top of "[Madonna's] profits that are attributable to the copyrighted material." Representatives for Madonna have yet to comment.

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Madonna Hit With Lawsuit Over 'Vogue' Sample

Madonna performs during the MDNA tour at Ullevi in Gothenburg, Sweden on July 4th, 2012.

A Delaware company has hit Madonna and her label WB Records with a lawsuit claiming the pop star stole portions of one of their songs for her hit 1990 hit "Vogue," reports E!. Pointing to a song called "Love Break," released around 1977, VMG claims, "The portions of 'Love Break,' which have been copied into 'Vogue' and all its various 'mixes,' 'remixes,' videos, YouTube versions, etc., are numerous but intentionally hidden. The horn and strings in 'Vogue' are intentionally sampled from 'Love Break' throughout."

The company also says music producer Richard "Shep" Pettibone facilitated the process by altering the samples after he was originally hired by VMG to remix "Love Break," later working on "Vogue." "The unauthorized sampling was deliberately hidden by [Madonna] within 'Vogue' so as to avoid detection. It was only when VMG specifically looked for the sample, with the technology available to it in 2011, that the sampling could be confirmed," VMG said.

VMG claims they served WB Records with a copyright infringement notice in July 2011 and February 2012 and are seeking damages on top of "[Madonna's] profits that are attributable to the copyrighted material." Representatives for Madonna have yet to comment.

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Kanye West Sued Over Another Sample

Kanye West performs in Kansas City.

Just weeks after settling a lawsuit with singer Syl Johnson, Kanye West faces another claim of illegal sampling, AllHipHop.com reports.

Robert Poindexter, singer with the soul band the Persuaders, claims that West used an uncleared sample of the 1972 hit "Trying Girls Out" on his remix of "Girls Girls Girls" featured on the mixtape Freshman Adjustment 2. Poindexter filed the suit in the U.S. District Court in Southern New York on March 27. He is seeking $500,000 in damages. 

Poindexter argues in the suit that West would have known that the sample wasn't cleared for the track, since he used a cleared version of the same sample for the version of "Girls Girls Girls" on Jay-Z's 2001 album The Blueprint.

Poindexter says in the suit that although the mixtape came out in 2006, he did not become aware of the sample until years later.

"By chance, I happened to discover the usage of the illegal version on the internet in 2011," the claim notes. 

Since the mixtape was not commercially released, it is unclear whether Poindexter has much of a case. However, Poindexter argues that West "willfully infringed the copyright for private and financial gain by selling and distributing an untold amount of physical and digital copies of the illegal version (mixed tapes/street albums) to the general public on internet downloads and through the mail." 

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Kanye West Sued Over Another Sample

Kanye West performs in Kansas City.

Just weeks after settling a lawsuit with singer Syl Johnson, Kanye West faces another claim of illegal sampling, AllHipHop.com reports.

Robert Poindexter, singer with the soul band the Persuaders, claims that West used an uncleared sample of the 1972 hit "Trying Girls Out" on his remix of "Girls Girls Girls" featured on the mixtape Freshman Adjustment 2. Poindexter filed the suit in the U.S. District Court in Southern New York on March 27. He is seeking $500,000 in damages. 

Poindexter argues in the suit that West would have known that the sample wasn't cleared for the track, since he used a cleared version of the same sample for the version of "Girls Girls Girls" on Jay-Z's 2001 album The Blueprint.

Poindexter says in the suit that although the mixtape came out in 2006, he did not become aware of the sample until years later.

"By chance, I happened to discover the usage of the illegal version on the internet in 2011," the claim notes. 

Since the mixtape was not commercially released, it is unclear whether Poindexter has much of a case. However, Poindexter argues that West "willfully infringed the copyright for private and financial gain by selling and distributing an untold amount of physical and digital copies of the illegal version (mixed tapes/street albums) to the general public on internet downloads and through the mail." 

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Jay-Z Faces Lawsuit Over 'Big Pimpin'' Sample

Jay-Z is facing a serious legal challenge over the rights to a hook sampled on his 2000 hit "Big Pimpin'." The nephew of Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdy is close to taking the rapper to court, claiming that he ruined his uncle's song, "Khosara, Khosara," and that his family has not been fairly compensated for its use as the lead instrumental motif in the hit.

A handful of Egyptian musicians have attempted to claim a valid license on "Khosara, Khosara" but have failed to substantiate their claim well enough to pursue a lawsuit. Much of the suit hinges on Egyptian copyright law, which confers economic ownership to authors as well as the ability to control what happens with the material. Though the song was licensed to Jay-Z, Hamdy's family say that the rapper "mutilated" the source material and required more specific permission.

Osama Ahmed Fahmy, Hamdy's nephew, is pushing to get a cut of Jay-Z's revenue for the song prior to the 2007 filing of his lawsuit up until now, including a portion of the emcee's concert profits.

In other Jay-Z news, the rapper is set to appear at the SXSW festival for the second year in a row. Jay-Z's performance at Austin City Limits on March 12th will be live-streamed on YouTube as part of American Express' Amex Sync Show promotion. The rapper performed at Kanye West's G.O.O.D. showcase last year, where they debuted a song from their Watch the Throne album.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Jay-Z Faces Lawsuit Over 'Big Pimpin'' Sample

Jay-Z is facing a serious legal challenge over the rights to a hook sampled on his 2000 hit "Big Pimpin'." The nephew of Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdy is close to taking the rapper to court, claiming that he ruined his uncle's song, "Khosara, Khosara," and that his family has not been fairly compensated for its use as the lead instrumental motif in the hit.

A handful of Egyptian musicians have attempted to claim a valid license on "Khosara, Khosara" but have failed to substantiate their claim well enough to pursue a lawsuit. Much of the suit hinges on Egyptian copyright law, which confers economic ownership to authors as well as the ability to control what happens with the material. Though the song was licensed to Jay-Z, Hamdy's family say that the rapper "mutilated" the source material and required more specific permission.

Osama Ahmed Fahmy, Hamdy's nephew, is pushing to get a cut of Jay-Z's revenue for the song prior to the 2007 filing of his lawsuit up until now, including a portion of the emcee's concert profits.

In other Jay-Z news, the rapper is set to appear at the SXSW festival for the second year in a row. Jay-Z's performance at Austin City Limits on March 12th will be live-streamed on YouTube as part of American Express' Amex Sync Show promotion. The rapper performed at Kanye West's G.O.O.D. showcase last year, where they debuted a song from their Watch the Throne album.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »