Greensleeves settles with Chris Brown over alleged song theft

completemusicupdate.com:

UK-based music firm Greensleeves has settled a legal battle with Chris Brown and his label over the allegations that the musician ripped off an earlier song that it publishes on his 2017 single ‘Privacy’.In a lawsuit filed with the courts in New York in July 2021, Greensleeves said that ‘Privacy’ lifted a line from 1997 dancehall track ‘Tight Up Skirt’, which was recorded by Red Rat. “In creating the infringing work”, the lawsuit stated, “[Brown] took the core musical feature of ‘Tight Up Skirt’ and used it prominently in the infringing work without permission”.As for what that “core musical feature” was, the lawsuit went on: “‘Tight Up Skirt’ and the infringing work share a similar primary identifying feature.

In both songs, this is a melody containing the lyrics ‘hey your girl inna di tight upskirt’ and ‘hey you girl without a tight upskirt’, respectively”.“This similar melody begins each chorus section in both songs”, it added. “This shared structural placement is significant and adds to the prominence of the similar melody in both songs”.That both tracks shared that element had been noted many times prior to the lawsuit being filed, though Red Rat himself – who wasn’t involved in the lawsuit – seemed pretty relaxed about it all.He told the Jamaica Observer in 2017: “Chris Brown, who is one of the biggest pop stars globally, feeling the need to sample a piece of ‘Tight Up Skirt’, only shows how much he loves and respects Red Rat and [the] catalogue.