Kanye West has lost the copyright infringement lawsuit over allegedly using an uncleared sample from an instrumental track called “MSD PT2” in a live rendition of his song “Hurricane”. The track is from his 2021 album Donda, but the copyright wasn’t allegedly infringed on until West performed the song at his show at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, in July of the same year as the album’s release. The live performance featured an updated version of the track that made the four musicians behind “MSD PT2”, Khalil Abdul Rahman, Sam Barsh, Dan Seeff and Josh Mease, believe their work had been stolen for this live rendition.

In the suit against West, where these 4 musicians came out victorious, they claimed that the recording of “MSD PT2” was shared with West’s team prior to allegedly being used at the concert. They claim that they made it clear during preliminary discussions that if West used or sampled their track, they expected adequate and fair financial compensation for their contributions. 

After West sampled their song during his performance in Atlanta, the 4 musicians filed a lawsuit to seek adequate compensation for West allegedly profiting off of their work and not following through with their request to be compensated properly if the song was to be used. Their lawyer, Irene Lee, claimed that an expert analysis found that the performance featuring the sample of “MSD PT2” generated $5.5 million for West. That money came through ticket sales, merch, a streaming deal with Apple, and a deal with Gap for the jacket West wore during the performance.

Eduardo Martorell, West’s lawyer, claimed that West’s fame and history of career accomplishments drove the revenue grossed by the show, rather than “a one-minute and one-second instrumental”. Martorell told the jury, “We don’t think we should be here. This lawsuit should never have been filed. The artists led my client to believe he had permission to use their music every step of the way.”

West also testified during the trial. During his testimony, he claimed that “a lot of people try to take advantage of me” and told the jury that he took the normal and proper route to clear the samples. 

The ruling was made unanimously in favor of the 4 musicians by a federal jury in Los Angeles. NME reports that the jury ruled that West would personally be held liable for $176,153 and his company Yeezy LLC was ordered to pay the same amount. In addition to these hefty fines, West’s retail merchandise companies, Yeezy Supply and Mascotte Holdings, are also being held liable for $40,000 each. That’s an estimated total of $432,306 to be paid between West personally and his companies.

Photo Credit: Brandy Hornback