Editor’s note: In the last few weeks, social media has been awash with claims of song theft launched by some Nigerian artists against their colleagues. It started with D’banj’s manager in December and the latest is Blackface against Wizkid and 2baba. Naij.com contributor Udochukwu Ikwuagwu analyses the situation and tries to make sense of the claims and counter-claims against the backdrop existing Nigerian copyright laws.
Dammy Krane and Wizkid were reconciled after the former accused the latter of stealing his song.
Copyright infringement or intellectual property theft in Nigerian music is far from a new phenomenon or recent development, but upsurge in claims by practitioners calls for attention.
The Dammy Krane-Wizkid song theft claim stands out from the recent spate of accusations as it led to an avoidable altercation between the two parties.
What began with Dammy Krane tweeting: “I have a problem with thieves and people who try to intimidate others” among other claims including that Wizkid stole the hook used on KCee’s Pull Over, the concept of Baba Nla- recorded in Wizzy’s studio- and slangs like “no sleeping on a bicycle” and “gbetiti”, resulted in burst lip for one party.
If copyright infringement and intellectual property theft are not addressed through legal means alone, trouble lurks in the corner, and this portends a dangerous trend.
Now, to the claims tendered by Dammy Krane. Take Pull over and Baba Nla, if he thought Twitter was the best place to seek justice, for whatever reason, he should have provided the audio or video of the studio sessions he claimed took place in Wizkid’s in-house studio. How should the jury (public) judge fairly without evidence? Probing the claim that he created the slang “no sleeping on a bicycle” puts a dent on Dammy Krane’s case as that catchphrase predates his appearance on the music scene in 2010. How then can he claim to be the originator of a ubiquitous slang? Although his claim of popularising gbetiti on Gratitude is a bit shaky as the same slang is found on Kiss Daniel’s Good Time (Wizzy’s version).
For an artist, who also has borrowed ideas to fashion his 21st Century Fuji sound, these claims become interesting. One of his début singles, I Like Girls, was influenced by YQ’s song of the same title and Jay Z’s Girls, Girls, Girls. My Dear found gold in King Sunny Ade’s, Pasuma Wonder’s and Magic System’s works; while King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal (KWAM 1), offered material (Consolidation/Solo Makinde, Amin, etc) for Xteristics, Lobatan, and his well-received Amin, which also interpolates lyrics from the south-western pentecostal movement. Ligali and Gratitude are indebted to Pasuma Wonder and Sir Shina Peters respectively. Even his Ijo Krane was an attempt at making an Ijo Shina he could call his own. There is absolutely nothing wrong in getting inspired by past works or paying homage to one’s influence(s) and borrowing ideas, however, it becomes one when the legal line is crossed.
Wizkid, asides the Dammy Krane allegations, has had his fair share of controversies since he hit the ground running. Recall his 2009 breakout single, Holla At Your Boy, and the arch similarities with South Korean singer Se7en’s Girls, or claims of theft by an undergrad when Pakurumo was released. The similarities between Sean Tizzle’s Kilogbe and his own Kilofe and his hook on Confam Ni sounding like Sean Tizzle’s Loke Loke? Blackface is the latest accuser, claiming Wizzy infringed on his copyright on Ojuelegba — melody ‘stolen’ from Since U Been Gone. Although the beats are dissimilar, the onus doesn’t lie on the public to decide. Good thing he has chosen to take matters to court—a praiseworthy development.
These cases are far from isolated as every now and then one hears of artistes jacking melodies, lyrics, song concepts or slangs from fellow acts. Last December DB Records in-house producer, DeeVee, accused Olamide of stealing the concept for Don’t Stop which D’Banj planned for Shake It, and slangs Baddest Guy Ever Liveth, Hello How Are You and Durosoke. DeeVee then erroneously credited the Koko Master for “shake it, don’t break it—it took your mama nine months to make it.”; a line originally penned by Brother Marquis of 2 Live Crew off ’91 Pop That Coochie, that alone made mockery of whatever claim he tendered as the sole evidence was D’Banj’s Shake It.
Music fans have heard cases of copyright infringement from Legendury Beatz allegedly jacking Sarz-produced Wash Wash for Emi Ni Baller, to Sarz allegedly copying Uhuru’s beat for In My Bed on Tekno’s Anything- interestingly the song was done to address alleged plagiarists including Wizzy, to YCee and D’Will alledg;y reworking Vector’s King Kong for Jagaban.
Music fans won’t forget in a hurry the brouhaha between Wande Coal/Shizzi and Mavin’s boss Don Jazzy over Babyface. Shortly after the departure of WC from the label, he decided to release a song that was allegedly written by his former boss and the Shizzi-produced version was eerie similar to Don Jazzy’s. In this case a demo (Don Jazzy’s version) stood as testimony. Shizzi’s defence was overtake don overtake overtake as Don Jazzy allegedly took credit for his sweat on Wande’s Go Low. There was also the case of melody theft from Burna Boy’s Gba Gbe E by Flavour over Phyno’s Authe (how Authe-ntic?); Burna Boy didn’t take kindly to this ‘theft’ and chose to address it over a rehash of Timaya’s Sanko on Another One.
Puzzling how these cases have rolled in, escalating in an altercation of two of the parties involved. Nigerian artistes will do well to forestall these occurrences. Yes, it could be frustrating when intellectual property theft or copyright infringement becomes the case. Artistes may prefer to vent their anger on social media or on songs than take legal means. But in the long run neither the artiste, producer, label nor the industry gains from this temporal measure. Tackling intellectual property starts with the artiste and his team. Every label should have a legal team, and when they suspect theft they should head to the court. This way, both the artiste/label and the industry benefit as erring parties get the stick. There have been cases in recent times where legal means settled troubling cases. Take the King Sunny Ade suit filed against a distribution company for violating his copyright and awarded the plaintiff N500 million damages. Other instituted suits include Chocolate City and Brymo, and the YSG and Vector.
Those in the music industry should get their legal teams ready when they spot copyright theft, and not let their artistes run to social media to air their grievances. Hypertek Digital, 960 Music, MSN, DKM and other record labels should follow Shizzi and institute suits against parties they think violate their acts’ works. Shizzi took the bull by the horn when he felt up and coming artiste Tunde Ednut infringed on his copyright, instituting legal action for Tunde Ednut and Masterkraft to pull down the Kosowo song and desist from promoting it. With a legal team in place, the Nigerian act should be assured of justice given provisions in the Nigerian Copyright Act Cap 28 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, Patents and Designs Act Cap P2 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, and Trademarks Act Cap T13 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. Acts can regain/protect their copyright- name, beat, melody, song or video concept, symbol, logo- and also benefit monetary from sampling of their works and damages when infringed.
Some days ago, Chocolate City affiliate Kahli Abdu talked about his regrets not able to promote his classic Ministry of Corruption mixtape due to unauthorized samples. Kahli Abdu and his team were turned down clearance from Knitting Factory, New York for the Fela samples on the project. Meaning he couldn’t shoot videos, go on radio tours, put up the songs/mixtape for sale and perform the songs at concerts or partake in any form of promotion. Sampling, like I mentioned, holds no problem but when the artiste finds him or herself unable to obtain clearance or refuses to seek clearance, there lies legal hot water. Mr. Abdu did the sensible thing in this situation. Though it’s frustrating when creative process gets disrupted because of sampling issues. Don’t get this wrong, artistes can sample songs and/or ideas without clearance as long as such records are NOT sold or performed for pecuniary benefits. Artistes can sample songs or beats or melodies but when they put it on iTunes, Spinlet, or such songs get used by companies for adverts, or shoot videos and get YouTube revenues, or perform at paid concerts they can be sued and pay direly for such.
One of the most absurd music stories was reported in 2014, that The Police frontman, Sting, gets an estimated $2,000/day from Puff Daddy ’97 “I’ll Be Missing You” tribute to The Notorious B.I.G. Why was the story odd, you may ask? Sting wasn’t part of the songwriting team nor was he a performer on the Grammy Award-winning single, but takes a 100 percent of the songwriting royalties because Puff Daddy stole his copyright. The guitar riff, and melody on the song’s chorus performed by Biggie’s widow, Faith Evans, was from The Police’s ’83 hit single ‘Every Breath You Take’ which Diddy and Bad Boy sampled without permission. Even though the record was performed by The Police with Andy Summers playing that sampled riff, Sting takes all the royalties as he was credited as the sole songwriter. In another interesting copyright lawsuit, a jury awarded the Marvin Gaye family $7.3 million in damages following Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams rip-off of Gaye’s ‘Got To Give It Up’ for ‘Blurred Lines’. The jury also found that the featured artiste, T.I., and record and distribution labels UMG and Interscope were copyright infringers.
It is high time stakeholders in the Nigerian music industry took issues of copyright infringement and intellectual theft seriously for the growth of Nigerian music.
One step at a time! One lawsuit at a time!
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Naij.com.
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