LONDON — A UK independent label is suing Sony Music's Ministry of Recording Industry over a remix of a song by R&B artist Jay Sean that became a global hit on TikTok a decade after its original release.
According to legal documents filed at the High Court in London, which have been reviewed by Advertising sign2Point9 Records sues Ministry of Sound for copyright infringement of Sean's 'Ride It' – a 2008 UK Top 20 single.
Lawyers for London-based 2Point9 say a 2019 remix of “Ride It” by Kosovo producer DJ Regard, whose real name is Dardan Aliuillegally sampled the master recording of Sean's original track without clearing its use.
First posted on TikTok, Regard's “Ride It” quickly became a viral hit before being licensed by the Sony-owned Ministry of Recording and officially released in July 2019.
The track reached number two in the UK singles chart that same year. In the US, Regard's “Ride It” reached number 62 on the Hot 100 (where it spent 10 weeks on the chart) and number three on the Billboard Top 100 Hot Dance/Electronic chart.
The song has since been streamed more than 1.3 billion times on Spotify, while the video has been viewed more than 285 million times on Regard's official YouTube channel. 2Point9 says the total views of the remix on YouTube have exceeded 500 million and over 4 million videos have been created by TikTok users.
DJ Regard
Courtesy photo
London based indie founded by Billy Grant and Rob Stewart in 2000, claims that Ministry of Recording was notified that the track contained an unauthorized sample of Jay Sean's song in 2008 when it was first released, but “chose not to enter into any meaningful commercial discussions” to clear the sample.
2Point9's legal claim alleges infringement of the master production recording rights to the original version of “Ride It,” which the company says it owns on a worldwide basis.
The indie label employed producer Alan Sampson in 2007 to work with Jay Sean, real name Kamaljit Singh Jhooti, on a number of songs including “Ride It”. Sampson is not among the plaintiffs, and Billboard understands the producer assigned his share of the master recording rights to 2Point9 under the terms of a 2007 production agreement.
Lawyers for 2Point9 say that when the Ministry of Sound was first informed in 2019 that DJ Regard's version of “Ride It” contained an unauthorized sample, the Sony-owned company rejected their claims and insisted that the new song it featured a re-recording of Sean's vocals. .
Several months later, the Ministry of Sound acknowledged that Regard's song contained parts of the original recording and subsequently replaced the infringing sample with a re-recorded version.
The re-recorded “Ride It” was released commercially in late 2019 but was assigned the same ISRC code as the previous hack song, say 2Point9. The indie label infers that this was done to prevent any distinction between the two songs when watching global games. DJ Regard's original track (featuring the unauthorized sample) continued to receive regular airplay in the UK following the release of the new version, 2Point9 claim.
“Throughout the time we've been pursuing this claim, the Ministry of Recording has treated our label with arrogance and contempt,” he said. Billy Grantco-founder of 2Point9 Records, in a statement.
“Why they think this kind of behavior against a small label is acceptable is baffling,” Grant said, noting that before Sony Music Entertainment bought Ministry of Sound in 2016 it was also an independent label.
Grant vowed to continue his legal fight “until justice is served” and said his company is “determined” to make the Ministry of Audio realize “that it is not OK to abuse the commercial rights of those in the independent sector and that there are consequences to do so.”
According to legal documents, 2Point9 Records has not yet been able to fully quantify the extent of its losses and damages related to the recording breach, but believes they are significant. Sony Music UK said it would not comment while the legal case is ongoing.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/sony-ministry-sound-sued-regard-remix-jay-sean-ride-it/
