The US District Court for the Central District of California issued a mixed ruling in Artist Revenue Advocates’ lawsuit against Kanye West over tracks from his 2021 album, Donda. While oral agreements failed to secure a valid copyright transfer for the composition of MSD PT2, acoustic testing by a Berklee College of Music expert confirmed no audio sampling in the official releases of “Hurricane” and “Moon.” The remaining litigation centers on pre-release versions of “Hurricane,” evaluating potential infringement in demo distributions and public listening events.
The case underscores the critical necessity of written copyright transfers in multi-producer collaborations and highlights the liability risks associated with monetizing pre-release materials. The survival of claims related to listening parties could establish new precedents for live preview events and their intersection with intellectual property law.
Curated by MusicResearch.com from Music Business Worldwide. Read the full article at: Kanye West
