COPYRIGHT WARS: Dua Lipa v Artikal Sound System

As we enter into a new year of music, it seems we enter more custody battles and copyright infringement cases over who stole (**borrowed**) what.

This week, female artist Dua Lipa’s Levitating is being sued by a south Reggae band Artikal Sound System’s song of Live Your Life. With there being a four-year difference in terms of writing both pieces of music, and the uncanny resemblance for both the bass lines and seething undertones of a summer anthem, it seems probable that Dua Lipa may have to settle.

Another case, another “influencing.” More and more copyright infringement cases rise as music gets spliced and diced as more and more bedroom artists join the fray with their own voice. It’s important to note that Dua Lipa’s team would have more likely cross-checked whether the song existed primarily, and would’ve no doubt been influenced or at least aware of the song. Unfortunately, due to the signature profile the song is associated to, the copier has come off far better reaping in mass streams and evidently earning both a Brit Award and a Grammy for the album. But, hopefully, swift justice will be brought and the artists can share the sum of royalties earned from Levitating. Let me know your thoughts on both songs below!

2 responses to “COPYRIGHT WARS: Dua Lipa v Artikal Sound System”

Andrew

Mar 7, 2022 at 12:22 am

I think we’ll hear more of these incidents in the future. Sadly, the internet doesn’t always publish bibliographies for every bit of text or musical notation.

It’s often I’ll listen to a song and say that it either reminds me of another band in terms of style, or another song. I listened to a Billy Talent song last night called Diamond on a landmine. It was obvious the band listened to the Police before writing the song. The melody during verses sounded exactly like Roxanne to me. I don’t remember seeing Gord Sumner listed in the credits.

There is so much copying/sampling going on these days. In most cases, the original artist gets credit (think Bittersweet Symphony and the Stones). I suspect that the artist who is unaware they’re copying something would cooperate when questioned. Perhaps whoever wrote Dua’s song was unaware of any similarities?

I’ve read about some bitter battles in the past. I remember when Ray Parker Jr was sued by Huey Lewis and the News. The argument was whether the theme from Ghostbusters ripped off the song I want a new drug.

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1. manvmusic
  
  Mar 8, 2022 at 7:06 pm
  
  Yeah, that’s the thing with this one. Artikal are suing Dua Lipa for a music style (the “Charleston”) that originated within black music culture with the likes of Jackson 5 and Outkast. So, if anything, it should be these original artists that have a stake in the claim. At the end of the day, everyone is inspired by everyone and it just comes to sharing the love and strength of music – and being able only to use oh so many notes. We’ll see the outcome of this one, but it’s not looking likely that Dua Lipa will have an issue..
  
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