LOS ANGELES (CN) — The estate of music legend Donna Summer claims Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign used a sample from Summer's iconic single “I Feel Love” without permission.
Bruce Sudano of Sweet Summer Night Music says in a new lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court the Summer estate explicitly denied West and Ty Dolla Sign's request to sample the classic 1977 disco song. Despite that denial, the two used portions of the song in the recently released collaborative album “Vultures 1” and in recorded live concerts, Sudano says.
Sudano West — now known professionally as Ye — and Ty Dolla Sign, born Tyrone Griffin Jr., of the Yeezy Record Label re-recorded “almost verbatim” portions of Summer’s song to create the hook of their single “Good (Don’t Die).” According to the lawsuit, the songs are so similar that fans and critics “instantly recognized” Summer's track in West's music.
Summer's estate had considered both the value of allowing the use of the song as well as the risk to Summer’s legacy give the widespread condemnation West has received for making a string of antisemitic statements. But the recognizable sample is now connected with West’s latest release, Sundano says.
“Summer’s estate wanted no association with West’s controversial history and specifically rejected West’s proposed use of Summer’s ‘I Feel Love,’” Sudano says in the complaint. “In the face of this rejection, defendants arrogantly and unilaterally decided they would simply steal and use it without permission.”
The estate made public statements about the use of “I Feel Love” on the album this month, and “Good (Don’t Die)” appears to have been quickly removed from streaming platforms and digital versions of the album. But Sudano says the song already had 8 million streams on Spotify in just four days, and that the litigation is about more than the “failure” to pay to use Summer’s musical property.
“It is also about the rights of artists to decide how their works are used and presented to the public, and the need to prevent anyone from simply stealing creative works when they cannot secure the right to use them legally,” Sudano says in the lawsuit. “When listening to both songs, any average listener can immediately hear the distinctive similar melody and compositional elements present in both songs, which sound so identical that it appears defendants may have gone so far as sampling the original master recording of Summer.”
Sudano seeks impoundment of all pieces of property that infringe on Summer’s copyright and $150,000 in statutory damages for each act of copyright infringement. He says that as of Feb. 16, “Vulture 1” was the top album streamed on Spotify globally and in the United States.
Representatives for West and Ty Dolla Sign could not immediately be reached for comment.
Variety reported this past December that West is currently without a record label or a music publisher after Universal Music’s Def Jam Recordings and Sony Music Publishing broke ties with him, following his indefensible antisemitic comments. He released “Vultures 1” on Feb. 9 as an independent publication under the new label “YZY.” West has also faced a series of lawsuits in recent years.
In 2006, Slant Magazine named “I Feel Love” the greatest dance song and Billboard has rated the song as one of the top 35 disco songs. In 2011, the Library of Congress added the single to the National Recording Registry as a “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important” work.
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