Universal Music Group is being sued for sampling King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man” on Kanye West’s 2010 track “Power.”
According to Declan Colgan Music Ltd, the owner of the mechanical rights to “21st Century Schizoid Man,” UMG has been underpaying on streaming royalties.
In 2010, West sampled King Crimson’s song without a license and uploaded it to YouTube, where it has since garnered nearly 134 million views. He also included the track on his fifth album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.”
When DCM learned of West’s copyright infringement, they contacted UMG, who reached an arrangement with DCM two months later, authorizing West to sample the King Crimson track in exchange for a 5.33 % fee on each copy of “Power” sold or “otherwise exploited.”
As part of the licensing agreement with UMG, West was required to pay DCM a royalty on the same basis that it receives royalties from CD sales.
However, according to DCM’s lawsuit, UMG “has failed, and continues to fail, to comply with its royalty accounting obligations regarding one mode of exploitation, namely the making available of the Power recording to consumers through so-called’ streaming’ services.”
Based on the 2010 contract, they argue that UMG should be paying streaming royalties based on what the company would have received if those streams were CD sales.
As a result, DMG is now seeking payment of all sums due, including interest, and a declaration setting out the correct basis for accounting for streaming royalties.
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