LOS ANGELES (CN) — The Black Eyed Peas were sued Friday by a independent Danish record label that accused them of sampling Scatman John's 1995 global hit single “Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop)” without a license.
The Los Angeles-based alternative hip-hop group only obtained a license to use the underlying composition of the Scatman song, but according to Iceberg Records, they nevertheless sampled the original sound recording for their 2022 track "Bailar Contigo" featuring Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee.
"After comparing the tracks, it is apparent that the derivative work and the song are so strikingly similar that defendants have used the sound recording of the song, rather than just the composition, as agreed," Iceberg Records says in its complaint. "Although it appears that defendants attempted to manipulate the sound recording slightly to hide their infringement, the work remains so strikingly similar to the song that it could not have been created without using the song’s sound recording."
Representatives of Epic Records — the Sony Music subsidiary that released the Black Eyes Peas 2022 album "Elevation" on which "Bailar Contigo" first appeared — didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Scatman John was the artist name of John Paul Larking, a Southern California jazz pianist and vocalist who had moved to Berlin in the 1990s. He suffered from a severe stutter and it was only when working with Iceberg Records' Manfred Zähringer that he started recording in his distinctive scat singing style, combining it with contemporary hip-hop and dance music.
“Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop)” was his first single and launched him to global fame at the age of 53. The song was a No. 1 hit in many European countries, including Austria, Belgium, France and Spain.
Since then, Scatman John’s music has sold 4.5 million albums, 4.5 million singles, and over 35 million compilations globally, receiving 17 gold and 22 platinum awards, according to Iceberg Records. He died in 1999, only a few years after his breakout success.
In 2022, the record label claims, the Black Eyed Peas obtained a license only to sample the composition of the song and they made it clear that the recording wasn't to be used for their track. That turned out to be a lie, Iceberg Records now says, and the group was just trying to avoid paying a larger licensing fee.
"Bailar Contigo" was released as a single last year and has accumulated 43 million views on YouTube.
Iceberg Records brings direct and contributory copyright infringement as well as fraud claims against the group. It seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Iceberg Records is represented by Matthew Cave, John Fowler and Tracy Rane of Kibler Fowler & Cave in Los Angeles.
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