Industry Liabilities

In the music Industry many artists sample other artists’ music through out their songs. There have been several artists sued for the having the proper clearance rights. These lawsuits teach me that as an A&R coordinator, executive producer and C.E.O. of my own Entertainment Company I will have to make sure my artists have the proper clearance rights anytime their sampling another artist music.

Kanye West was Sued in 2005 for the hit Gold Digger. According to Law360 A federal judge threw out most of the claims in a copyright lawsuit alleging Kanye West stole a portion of 1970s Bumping Bus Stop. The judge dismissed all claims because Pryor’s song was not substantial enough to be actionable related to Gold Digger. This settlement shows that there will be many people filling lawsuits against you if they believed you did not use the proper clearance to get the sample cleared.

Jay-Z was hit with a lawsuit for his hit song Run This Town. The lawsuit discussed that Jay-Z sampled Eddie Bo's "Hook & Sling Part 1" without permission. The case was later dismissed. The judge reported that one syllable did not constitute copy right infringement according to the , the New York Times reports. The RollingStone shows that many people will try to sue you for syllables used in your song. So it is important that I cover every aspect of any sampled songs.

The last lawsuit that shows that you have to cover all aspects of using other artists’ music and lyrics is RickRoss lawsuit against LMFAO over their 2011 single, Party Rock Anthem, citing similarities to Hustlin. LMFAO used the words, "Everyday I'm shufflin' in their chorus and they also made shirts using that phrase. The judge pointed out that Rick Ross was not the first one to come up with the phrase so the phrase was not copyrightable. Rick Ross lawsuit was thrown out and LMFAO was cleared. This lawsuit shows that I have to cover all my clearance rights if I try to sue a party that uses phrases from my artist. These cases shows that not all lawsuits will be won but it is important to cover all your rights.