The 2007 dance-pop song "Do It" performed by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado features elements sampled from "Acidjazzed Evening", a chiptune-style track composed by the Finnish demoscene artist Janne Suni. This was considered plagiarism by some. [1] [2] Timbaland, "Do It"'s producer, admitted to sampling Suni's work, but did not believe his usage constituted "stealing", calling the allegations "ridiculous". [3] Although users had noted the similarities between the two tracks on Finnish demoscene forums in July 2006, the Timbaland plagiarism controversy attracted mainstream attention in January 2007, when Internet users posted videos to YouTube alleging Timbaland had plagiarized Suni's work. Soon afterwards, the controversy attracted the attention of the Finnish news portal eDome, and the MTV and Rolling Stone websites, who all published articles detailing the events of the controversy. [4] [5] [6] [7] "Do It" was released as the fifth North American single from Loose on July 24, 2007.
The original track, titled "Acidjazzed Evening", is a chiptune-style, 4-channel Amiga module composed by Finnish demoscener Janne Suni (a.k.a. Tempest). [8] The song won first place in the Oldskool Music competition at Assembly 2000, a demoparty held in Helsinki, Finland, in 2000. [9] According to Scene.org, the song was uploaded to their servers the same year, long before the release of the song by Furtado. The song was later remixed (with Suni's permission) by Norwegian Glenn Rune Gallefoss (a.k.a. GRG) for the Commodore 64 in SID format—this is the version that was later used for "Do It". It was first published in a disk magazine in Australia in August 2002 [10] [11] and was added to the High Voltage SID Collection on December 21, 2002. [12]
Janne Suni posted the following comment regarding the copyright status of "Acidjazzed Evening" on January 15, 2007:
...I have never given up the copyrights of Acidjazzed Evening. I also have never authorized commercial use of the song. In 2002, however, Glenn Rune Gallefoss (also known as GRG) made a conversion/arrangement of the Acidjazzed Evening which was not released commercially. This arrangement was made on the Commodore 64 computer. It was authorized by me, and Glenn Rune Gallefoss explicitly asked for permission before releasing the arrangement. [8]
On February 16, 2007, he added the following note:
I'll correct one persistent misconception: I have been using the services of a law firm since September 2006. Things are gradually developing behind the scenes, and whatever the result turns out to be like, I'll publish any available info here as soon as possible. [8]
On September 9, 2007, his webpage was updated with the following information:
My case regarding the controversy has come to its closure. Just as before, I will not answer any questions about the case. [8]
The C64 news portal C64.sk published the following comment from Glenn R. Gallefoss on January 15, 2007:
... Its my sid version that has been sampled in do-it : You can hear that by the 11 waveform bleeps I have put in at random places (only 3 voices on a sid you know), the arpeggios are using filters, I can even hear the lead using my multipulse routine (which i rarely use, but i did it on acidjazz.sid ). [13]
On February 3, Gallefoss published the following comment on his personal web page:
Not much to tell about this matter. I have made a deal with my lawyers. Sometime in the near future, something will happen. [14]
Hannu Sormunen, a Finnish representative of Universal, which represents Nelly Furtado in Finland, commented the controversy as follows in the January 15, 2007, issue of Iltalehti :
In case that the artist decides to pursue the matter further, it's on him to go to America and confront them with the local use of law. It will require a considerable amount of faith and, of course, money. [4]
The first legal action against Universal Finland was officially filed with Helsinki District Court in mid-August 2007, on behalf of Glenn R. Gallefoss.
On February 2, 2007, Timbaland responded to the plagiarism accusations in an interview on the radio show Elliot in the Morning . In this interview, Timbaland admitted to what he called "sampling", but he also claimed that sampling is "not stealing", because "everybody samples from everybody every day". Timbaland also said that the sample is "from a video game" and mentioned the Commodore 64. He also said that he has no time for research and that it is sometimes impossible to "know what's public domain and what's not". Timbaland also called the issue "ridiculous" but mentioned that he is "in legal discussions" and therefore was not able to say much about it. He also called Janne Suni an "idiot" and a "freakin' jerk" on the show. [15]
On February 9, 2007, Timbaland commented on the issue in an MTV interview:
It makes me laugh. The part I don't understand, the dude is trying to act like I went to his house and took it from his computer. I don't know him from a can of paint. I'm 15 years deep. That's how you attack a king? You attack moi? Come on, man. You got to come correct. You the laughing stock. People are like, "You can't be serious." [16]
A device in Timbaland's studio, as seen in video clips from the MTV show Timbaland's Diary, has been identified as an Elektron SidStation. [5] This device is a MIDI-controlled synthesizer based on the SID chip of the Commodore 64, and it is capable of playing back .sid files the way they would have sounded on the original hardware. It has been speculated that Timbaland downloaded Gallefoss' version of the song from the High Voltage SID Collection [17] and used the SidStation for running it to the studio system. [5]
In August 2007, an action for infringement was filed in the District Court of Helsinki against Universal Music, Ltd, alleging Nelly Furtado's song "Do It" infringed "Acidjazzed Evening". [18] [19] In January 2009, after a trial that included multiple expert and technical witnesses, a three-judge panel unanimously dismissed the plaintiff's case.[ citation needed ]
On December 17, 2008, Abbott also testified as a witness of prosecution in the Helsinki court in Gallefoss's case against Universal Music Finland. The Finnish court reportedly threw out the case after ruling in only one aspects of the three claims (sampling, performance rights, producer rights), and the case remained in appellate court as of January 2010. [20]
On June 12, 2009, Mikko Välimäki, who is one of the legal counsels of Kernel Records, the owner of the sound recording rights, reported that the case had been filed in Florida. [21] [22] On June 7, 2011, the case of Kernel Records Oy v. Mosley ended with the court deciding that the tune was a US work as it had been first published on the Internet and that Kernel Records had failed to register for copyright in the United States. [23] This reversed the decision of Moberg v. 33T LLC, which decided that a photograph published online in Germany was not a US work. [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] As a result, Timbaland prevailed on summary judgment and the court dismissed the lawsuit. [29] Timbaland's attorneys in the U.S. case included noted entertainment litigator Jeffrey D. Goldman. [30]
The earliest Internet forum posts suggesting that "Do It" was based on "Acidjazzed Evening" date back to July 2006, [31] and according to the Finnish news portal eDome, "Suni and other demoscene hobbyists" already knew about it at this time. [5]
One of the first large media to react to the on-line controversy was the Finnish Broadcasting Company, which published a news item on the topic on January 14, 2007. [32]
The electronic music magazine Side-Line put a complete news round-up up on its website. [33] Finnish tabloids Ilta-Sanomat, [34] Iltalehti, [35] and newspapers ITviikko, [36] and DigiToday [37] also published articles about the suspected plagiarism on January 15, 2007.
On January 16, Finnish news portal eDome published an article about the case saying in the English summary that:
It is beyond any doubt that Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley has directly copied large sections of Janne Suni’s songs, much more than any "fair use" would allow. Timbaland has not sampled tiny bits or effects from the song, but whole sections. This is a clear breach of copyright. [5]
The article also covered similar cases from the past and notified that both the competition and the prize ceremony "were witnessed by the 4000-5000 people at the event. The competition and the ceremony were also shown in Helsinki area cable TV". [5] The same day, the news reached Norwegian media, including Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation [38] and Dagbladet, [39] both of which interviewed Gallefoss.
On January 17, the case was reported on briefly by the Rolling Stone website, [40] XXL Magazine , [41] and the popular German IT news portal Heise online. Heise's story suggests that Timbaland downloaded Gallefoss's SID arrangement from the High Voltage SID Collection. [17]
On January 18, Rolling Stone put the controversy as top news of the day with a more detailed article. [6] Later that day the San Jose Mercury News covered the story on their blog. [42]
On January 22, MTV took notice of the issue with a longer article and video news. It is not clear if this video news was actually broadcast or merely posted online. [7] MTV-owned sister station VH-1 also published the MTV news story. MTV had attempted to reach Timbaland's representatives via phone and e-mail, but they "had not responded at press time". [7]
Nelly Kim Furtado is a Portuguese-Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 45 million records, including 35 million in album sales worldwide, making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. Critics have noted Furtado's musical versatility and experimentation with genres.
The Assembly demoparty is a demoscene and gaming event in Finland. It is the biggest demoscene party. The main organizers of the event are Pekka Aakko and Jussi Laakkonen. The Summer event takes place every year between late July and early August, and lasts three to four days, and the Winter event is held in January or February. Edition 2020 was online. The most recent Assembly was held from 3 to 6 of August 2023 at Messukeskus in Helsinki.
Timothy Zachery Mosley, known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, and singer. Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he has received widespread acclaim for his innovative production work and distinctive "stuttering" rhythmic style. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly stated that "just about every current pop trend can be traced back to him—from sultry, urban-edged R&B songstresses [...] to the art of incorporating avant-garde sounds into No. 1 hits."
Loose is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado, released on 7 June 2006, by Geffen and Mosley Music Group. Recording sessions for Loose took place from 2005 to 2006. Timbaland and his protégé Danja produced the bulk of the album, primarily a pop album which incorporates influences of dance, R&B, hip hop, latin pop, synth-pop, reggaeton, new wave, funk, and Middle Eastern music. Lyrically, it explores the theme of female sexuality and has been described as introspective.
"No Hay Igual" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado from her third studio album, Loose (2006). It was written and produced by Furtado, Tim "Timbaland" Mosley, Nate "Danja" Hills, and Nisan Stewart, with vocal production by Jim Beanz. While working with Timbaland and Danja at The Hit Factory in Miami, Florida, Pharrell Williams introduced Furtado to reggaeton, a musical genre that was unfamiliar to her. After he played a song for her, Furtado became inspired and wrote the lyrics to "No Hay Igual" "nearly on the spot". It is a hip-hop and reggaeton song in which Furtado sings in Spanish over a reggaeton rhythm.
"Maneater" is a song by Canadian singer Nelly Furtado from her third studio album, Loose (2006). The song was written by Furtado, Jim Beanz, and its producers Timbaland, and Danja. It was released to mainstream radio in the United States in July 2006. The song's musical style and production were inspired by the Hall & Oates song of the same name and other music from the 1980s.
"Say It Right" is a song by Canadian singer Nelly Furtado from her third studio album, Loose (2006). It was written by Furtado, Tim "Timbaland" Mosley, and Nate "Danja" Hills, with Furtado crediting the Eurythmics' song "Here Comes the Rain Again" as her inspiration. The song was released as the third single from Loose on 31 October 2006 by Geffen Records and Mosley Music Group; in Europe, it was released as the fourth.
Mosley Music Group (MMG) is a record label founded and formed by producer Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley in 2006. A successor to his previous label Beat Club, it has operated as an imprint of Def Jam Recordings since 2019. Previously, the label operated an imprint of Interscope Records (2006–2014) and Epic Records (2014–2019).
"All Good Things (Come to an End)" is a song by Canadian singer Nelly Furtado from her third studio album, Loose (2006). It was written by Furtado, Tim "Timbaland" Mosley, Chris Martin, and Nate "Danja" Hills. The song was released as the album's third European single in November 2006. It was released as the fourth single in the United States and Australia. The single features Chris Martin, frontman of the band Coldplay, harmonizing throughout the song. The original version of the song included Martin saying a few words at the beginning and singing the chorus behind Furtado.
"Give It to Me" is a song performed by American producer, songwriter and rapper Timbaland, released as the first single from his second studio album Shock Value (2007). The song features vocals by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado and American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake. All three artists co-wrote the song together with American rapper Attitude and American producer Danja, who co-produced the song with Timbaland. Mosley Music Group, in association with Blackground Records and Interscope Records, serviced the song to contemporary hit and rhythmic radios in the United States on February 6, 2007, and later to urban radios on March 10, 2007. "Give It to Me" is an electro song that embodies the sensibilities of club music. The song features the protagonists addressing their critics about their successes in the music industry.
"Do It" is a song by Canadian singer Nelly Furtado from her third studio album, Loose (2006). It was written by Furtado, Danja, and Timbaland, and was also produced by Danja and Timbaland. The song is strongly influenced by 1980s dance music and features sexually suggestive lyrics, in which the song's protagonist asks a lover to satisfy her sexually.
Janne "Tempest" Suni is a Finnish demoscener, pixel artist and tracker musician, and a member of the demogroup Fairlight. He is best known outside the demoscene for being the creator of the song "Acidjazzed Evening", the melody of which hip-hop producer Timbaland plagiarized in the 2006 song "Do It" by Nelly Furtado.
"Ching Ching" is the second single by American rapper Ms. Jade. The song is also found on track four of her debut album, Girl Interrupted, released in 2002.
Fitts for Fight was a female duo consisting of Ellinor Aurora Aasgaard and Julie Ilona Balas from Kristiansand in Norway. They became known when it was revealed that the songs they claimed to have written themselves were made by demoscene musicians and downloaded from micromusic.net, while the two women added their own often explicit lyrics to the music. According to micromusic.net they have so far identified songs from 505 of YM Rockerz, Binärpilot, 8 Bit Weapon, Arachno, Printed Circuit, Yerzmyey, Drx of Bodenständig 2000, Jo Petrole and Stu of Drop da Bomb. After it was made public that they had copied the songs, Fitts for Fight deleted the music from their page on MySpace and they were removed from Urørt. Also the by:Larm festival dropped them from the programme and they were replaced by Binärpilot. Examples of music that Fitts for Fight stole are Fuck off and die that is actually STereoid by Stu, CrashBurnDestroy that is Space Travel by Yerzmyey, and Monstermachine that is Otosclerosis by Binärpilot.
Music plagiarism is the use or close imitation of another author's music while representing it as one's own original work. Plagiarism in music now occurs in two contexts—with a musical idea or sampling. For a legal history of the latter see sampling.
"Morning After Dark" is a song by American record producer singer and rapper, Timbaland taken from his third studio album, Shock Value II. The song features French singer SoShy and was released as the first single from the album on October 26, 2009. The international version of the song features an additional verse from Canadian singer Nelly Furtado and it is this version which features on the album.
Shock Value II is the third and latest studio album by American record producer Timbaland. It serves as the sequel to his previous album, Shock Value. Initially slated for a 2008 release, the project was pushed into 2009 and tentatively confirmed for November 23, 2009 through Blackground Records, however, it was pushed back once more and finally released on December 7, 2009 in the UK and December 8 in the US.
"Promiscuous" is a song by Canadian singer Nelly Furtado from her third studio album, Loose (2006). The song was written by Timothy "Attitude" Clayton, Tim "Timbaland" Mosley, Furtado and Nate "Danja" Hills. The song's lyrics feature a conversation between a man and woman who call each other promiscuous. The song was released as the second single from the album on April 25, 2006.
Getaped.com, Inc. v. Cangemi is a 2002 case from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York concerned with the issue of whether a copyrightable work made available over the internet could be considered published under the Copyright Act of 1976. Through analogy to traditional physical distribution, the court held that this indeed constituted publication.
Jeffrey D. Goldman is an American former entertainment lawyer, best known for his music litigation practice and for his involvement in two influential internet law cases: A&M Records v. Napster and Perfect 10 v. Google. His cases dramatically impacted the development of Internet law and on the music industry's transformation from physical sales to digital distribution of music. He was also part of the litigation team that represented the plaintiff victims in the O. J. Simpson civil case.
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