In 2010, Kanye West released his popular single “Power,” the rapper sampled the 1969 King Crimson song “21st Century Schizoid Man.” The case was handled between UMG and the mechanical rights holder of the song Declan Colgan Music Ltd, according to Revolver Magazine. The group now claims that the royalties were miscalculated, which led the band to ask “the court for a proper accounting of the fees due,” according to a facebook post by King Crimson founding guitarist, Robert Fripp. You can read his full statement below.
The lawsuit is based on the royalties that are allegedly owed from the streaming sales. They originally were the same as the CD sales, but the lawsuit claims they are “insufficient.” The lawsuit also claims that UMG “has failed, and continues to fail, to comply with its royalty accounting obligations in respect of one mode of exploitation, namely the making available of the Power [r]ecording to consumers through so-called ‘streaming’ services.”
Kanye West himself is rather known these days from the one or the other controversy, and has recently dropped out as headliner for this year’s Coachella Festival, which lead them to replace him with set by Swedish House Mafia and The Weeknd.
Ian McDonald, a founding member of King Crimson has passed away in February this year.
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