A jury in Los Angeles found Kanye West liable for copyright infringement, ordering the rapper and three of his business entities to pay $438,558 in damages over the unauthorized use of a recording during a listening party for his 2021 album Donda.
The lawsuit was brought by Artist Revenue Advocates (ARA), a Delaware LLC, in 2024. ARA’s members include four musicians: Khalil Abdul-Rahman, Sam Barsh, Dan Seeff, and Josh Mease, who alleged that West’s songs Hurricane and Moon infringed their 2018 composition and sample called MSD PT2.
While the final version of Hurricane, which went on to win a Grammy, did not contain the sample, the plaintiffs argued that an earlier version of the track featuring their recording was played during the first Donda listening event at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on July 22, 2021. The event was attended by 40,000 fans, according to Rolling Stone.
In February, Judge Michelle Williams Court of the US District Court for the Central District of California issued a mixed ruling, granting summary judgment on most claims while allowing a narrower set of allegations to proceed to trial. A mediation held on February 20 was unsuccessful.
The jury verdict on Tuesday (May 12) followed a weeklong trial. Jurors found West personally liable for $176,153, and his company, Yeezy LLC, for $176,153. His retail merchandising companies, Yeezy Supply and Mascotte Holdings, were also ordered to pay $41,625 and $44,627, respectively, according to Rolling Stone.
In her closing argument on Tuesday, lead plaintiff’s lawyer Irene Lee reportedly said the sample formed the indisputable “backbone” for Hurricane.
Lee argued that West “just took” the sample, used it and then threw it away after monetizing it at the listening event. She argued that the value of MSD PT2 was tied to that specific performance because the sample is now “forever going to be associated” to West.
“We never got a chance to send it to anybody else. No other artist will touch this once somebody like Ye touched it,” Lee argued, as per Rolling Stone.
Lawyers for ARA argued that West generated $5.6 million from ticket sales, merchandise, and a deal with Apple Music to stream the show.
“This is a failed shakedown. Six months ago, they wanted $30 million out of Ye… The moral of the story? There is a cost attached to thinking you can take advantage of Ye.”
A spokesman for Kanye West (via Rolling Stone)
Following the verdict, Britton Monts, a manager for Artists Revenue Advocates, told Rolling Stone: “It’s a victory for working artists, who typically lack the resources to go against someone like Ye, a megastar and celebrity,” adding: “The underdogs got their day in court.”
However, a spokesman for West told the news outlet: “This is a failed shakedown. Six months ago, they wanted $30 million out of Ye.”
“The moral of the story? There is a cost attached to thinking you can take advantage of Ye,” the spokesman said, claiming that ARA spent millions in legal fees for the six-figure award.
“We’ll be appealing the larger part of the case to the Ninth Circuit. We’re hopeful that the case will come back, and then we’ll try the larger damages.”
Britton Monts, Artists Revenue Advocates
Monts told Rolling Stone that despite the win, ARA will appeal a ruling earlier in the case that dismissed potentially more profitable claims involving the final version of Hurricane that appeared on Donda with an alleged interpolation, not the sample.
“We’ll be appealing the larger part of the case to the Ninth Circuit. We’re hopeful that the case will come back, and then we’ll try the larger damages,” Monts told the news outlet.
As MBW reported in 2022, West also faced legal action over claims of copyright infringement regarding a sample in the song Flowers from his Donda 2 album. Filed in June of that year by Ultra International Music Publishing, the lawsuit was brought on behalf of Chicago house music legend Marshall Jefferson.Music Business Worldwide
