Kanye West is now facing a copyright lawsuit over the unauthorized use of the Donna Summer song “I Feel Love.” The musician’s estate filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles on Tuesday (February 27) alleging that the rapper included her 1977 hit in his track “Good (Don’t Die)” without being asked.
Use despite refusal
The indictment alleges that West “shamelessly used instantly recognizable portions” of her song in his piece, even though he had already been “explicitly denied” permission to do so. The singer’s attorneys continued, “Summer’s estate wanted no association with West’s controversial history and specifically rejected the proposed use. Faced with this rejection, the defendants arrogantly and unilaterally decided to simply steal ‘I Feel Love’ and use it without permission.” The defendants in this case are Kanye West himself and his collaborator Ty Dolla $ign.
The 46-year-old actually made a request for sampling – on behalf of Alien Music. In January he contacted Donna Summer’s estate to get permission. It was mentioned that he had already used part of “I Feel Love” and was hoping for quick approval so that he could publish his piece. Despite lengthy considerations, Summer’s team ultimately decided to reject further use.
They said: “West is known as a controversial public figure whose behavior has caused numerous brands and business partners to distance themselves from him. It was an attempt to protect the valuable intellectual property from any public association with the negative publicity surrounding West.”
“Blatant plagiarism”
In “Good (Don’t Die),” however, Kanye West adopted the most striking parts of Summers’ work “almost verbatim,” so that the piece could almost immediately be viewed as “blatant plagiarism.” In the hope of getting around the “lockdown”, West had re-recorded the used part of the song. This tactic has actually been used many times by musicians when a direct sample has been refused.
Lawyers for Donna Summer, who died in 2012, said: “Listening to both songs, any average listener can immediately hear the distinctive, similar melody and compositional elements in both songs, which sound so identical that it appears that the defendants are “We went so far as to sample the original master recording of Summer.”
The estate administration contacted West about this at the beginning of February 2024, whereupon his song was taken off the streaming platforms and removed from the digital versions of his album “Vultures 1”. However, that was not the only aim of the prosecution. Legal action was necessary in this case because the damage had long been done and could no longer be undone.
The damage has already been done
The court filing states: “This litigation is about more than just the defendants’ failure to pay an appropriate royalty for the use of another’s musical property. It’s also about artists’ rights to decide how their work is used and presented to the public, and the need to stop anyone from simply stealing creative works if they don’t have the right to use them legally can secure.”
Even though streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify deleted “Good (Don’t Die)” from their platforms just a few days after its release, the track was played millions of times. Videos in which the piece can be heard are still circulating on YouTube and similar websites.