Super-producer Timbaland is in some deep trouble over a sample he used on Nelly Furtado's worldwide breakthrough album Loose, according to reports. Apparently, Timbaland "heavily borrowed" from a Finnish studio to produce the track "Do It."
A Finnish record label known as Kernel Records claims that Timbo took "original and central identifying melodic, harmonic and rhythmic components" from a song they own called "Acidjazzed Evening," reports All Hip Hop [via the Daily Swarm]. The unfortunately titled track was originally recorded by composer Janne Suni in 2000, then rerecorded on the Commodore 64 by Glenn Rune Gallefoss, a Norwegian electronic musician. Kernel Records acquired the song in 2007.
Now, All Hip Hop says that Kernel "has charged all defendants with copyright infringement, requested that the ownership of the copyrights held by Mosley Music, LLC and Geffen be transferred back, and requested an injunction prohibiting the further release, reprinting, performance and sale of the song 'Do It.'"
In a U.S. radio interview from 2007, Timbaland was quoted as saying, "That mess is so ridiculous. I can't really discuss it because it's a legal matter. But that's why people don't believe it. It's from a video game, idiot. Sample and stole is two different things. Stole is like I walked in your house, watched you make it, stole your protools, went to my house and told Nelly, 'Hey, I got a great song for you.' Sample is like you heard it somewhere, and you just sampled. Maybe you didn't know who it was by because it don't have the credits listed."
In many ways, this could be seen as a bit of a money grab on the part of Kernel, as Loose was released in 2006, a video accusation of plagiarism was posted in January of 2007 (see below), and Kernel Records didn't acquire the song until August of 2007.
Whatever the case, it's now halfway through 2009, and the music industry is still dealing with sampling lawsuits. A little behind the times, no?
A Finnish record label known as Kernel Records claims that Timbo took "original and central identifying melodic, harmonic and rhythmic components" from a song they own called "Acidjazzed Evening," reports All Hip Hop [via the Daily Swarm]. The unfortunately titled track was originally recorded by composer Janne Suni in 2000, then rerecorded on the Commodore 64 by Glenn Rune Gallefoss, a Norwegian electronic musician. Kernel Records acquired the song in 2007.
Now, All Hip Hop says that Kernel "has charged all defendants with copyright infringement, requested that the ownership of the copyrights held by Mosley Music, LLC and Geffen be transferred back, and requested an injunction prohibiting the further release, reprinting, performance and sale of the song 'Do It.'"
In a U.S. radio interview from 2007, Timbaland was quoted as saying, "That mess is so ridiculous. I can't really discuss it because it's a legal matter. But that's why people don't believe it. It's from a video game, idiot. Sample and stole is two different things. Stole is like I walked in your house, watched you make it, stole your protools, went to my house and told Nelly, 'Hey, I got a great song for you.' Sample is like you heard it somewhere, and you just sampled. Maybe you didn't know who it was by because it don't have the credits listed."
In many ways, this could be seen as a bit of a money grab on the part of Kernel, as Loose was released in 2006, a video accusation of plagiarism was posted in January of 2007 (see below), and Kernel Records didn't acquire the song until August of 2007.
Whatever the case, it's now halfway through 2009, and the music industry is still dealing with sampling lawsuits. A little behind the times, no?
