Kanye West’s King Crimson Sample in ‘Power’ Sparks Lawsuit Against Universal Music
variety.comK.J. Yossman Kanye West’s 2010 track “Power” has sparked a lawsuit against Universal Music Group over its sampling of prog rock band King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man.”Declan Colgan Music Ltd (DCM), which own the mechanical rights (the original version of the track) to “21st Century Schizoid Man,” claim that UMG has been underpaying on streaming royalties arising from “Power.”According to the lawsuit, West originally sampled the King Crimson track without a license before uploading the track to YouTube in 2010, where it has since garnered almost 134 million views.
He also included “Power” in his fifth studio album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.”When DCM became aware of West’s copyright infringement, they contacted UMG, who — along with West and his production company Rock the World — signed an agreement with DCM two months later legally allowing West to sample the King Crimson track in return for a 5.33% royalty on each copy of “Power” that was sold or “otherwise exploited.” According to the terms of the license agreement, UMG are required to pay DCM a royalty on the same terms that West receives royalties from the track.
And under the terms of West’s agreement with UMG at the time, the royalty figure for a streaming track was equivalent to that of a track on a physical CD.However, DCM claim in their lawsuit, which was filed in the U.K.
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