The Weeknd Settles Copyright Lawsuit Over ‘Call Out My Name’

etcanada.com:

The musicians suing The Weeknd have reached a settlement agreement with the Canadian artist. In 2021, Suniel Fox and Henry Strange filed a case against The Weeknd over his 2018 song “Call Out My Name”, claiming he’d copied their “atmospheric and melancholic” track called “Vibeking”. READ MORE: The Weeknd Gets Booed At The Juno Awards For No-Showing The The Weeknd had denied the copyright claim and allegations that the songs featured similar “lead guitar and vocal hooks.” According to the BBC, terms of the settlement have not been publicly disclosed, but the plaintiff’s lawyers said in a filing on Friday, “The parties are still in the process of formalizing, executing, and consummating.” In their suit, Fox and Strange noted a number of similarities between The Weeknd’s track and their own. “Both works are in a 6/8 meter that is less common in popular music,” they claimed. “Both works are played at a similar tempo.

And both works use features of electronica, ambience, pop, hip-hop, rock, and R&B to achieve a particularly atmospheric and melancholic sound.” They also claimed that The Weeknd had heard their song before creating his own, claiming that they had sent the track to the artist’s DJ in 2015, and that he’d said in response, “It’s fire.” READ MORE: The Weeknd Sweeps Junos Opening Night, Ties Bryan Adams For Second Most Wins Of All Time About a year later, White got in touch with Strange again and wrote, “I sent [The Weeknd] that track u made a while ago.

He listened and liked it. But nothing ever happened.” White later allegedly sent another email saying, “Just gonna tell [The Weeknd] that our production team wrote the track.