Demi Lovato has been accused of copyright infringement.
On what grounds? And by whom? Read on for the answer…
The artist was slapped with a lawsuit this week by a band called Sleigh Bells because that group believes Lovato used its track “Infinity Guitars” as the inspiration for her 2015 hit “Stars.”
Not just as the inspiration, the band argues. But as the entire basis.
She basically committed an act of larceny in Sleigh Bells’ eyes.
E! News has obtained court documents in which the Sleigh Bells allege that the two singles are “virtually identical content” that “transcend the realm of coincidence.”
In other words: they think Demi totally knew what she was doing.
According to the lawsuit, “a comparison of the two songs reveals that, at the very least, the combination of the hand claps and bass drum, structured as 3 quarter beats and a rest, with the bass drum providing a counter-rhythm to the hand claps, is at least substantially similar in both works.
“This infringing material repeats throughout the Defendants’ song.”
Along with Lovato, the document names UMG Recordings and Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub as defendants.
Last year, when this same controversy was raised, Yacoub spoke to Rolling Stone about the allegations.
He defended both himself and Lovato at the time.
“We did not use any samples in Demi Lovato’s song Stars,” he said. “Demi was also not involved with the production. She only wrote top line.”
For those wondering about the similarities here, take a listen below to Stars.
Got it? Grooving to it?
Okay, good.
Now take a listen to Infinity Guitars.
Sleigh Bells did not comment on this same issue shortly after Lovato released “Stars” last year.
“Flattered you guys sampled ‘Infinity Guitars’ and ‘Riot Rhythm’ for ‘Stars’ but we were not contacted. Gotta clear those,” they wrote in a Tweet.
As someone known for keeping it real (see below), it would definitely be a black mark on Lovato’s record for her to gank any song material from another group.
Then again, it could have been an honest mistake.
Or it could just be that musicians are influenced by other musicians all the time.
It doesn’t mean they are purposely going out of their way to steal source material.
