Dua Lipa sued for alleged copyright infringement over hit single Levitating – Music Business Worldwide

British pop star Dua Lipa has been hit with a lawsuit for allegedly ripping off a track by a band called Artikal Sound System to create her hit single , Levitating.

Released in 2020, Levitating was taken from Lipa’s album Future Nostalgia and has been streamed over 445 million times on Spotify alone, and has been viewed over 475 million times on YouTube.

Filed in a California court on Tuesday (March 1), Artikal Sound System’s members claim that Levitating is “substantially similar” to their own song Live Your Life.

Warner Records is also named as a defendant, along with songwriters Sarah Hudson, Stephen Kozmeniuk,  Bosco Kante and Clarence. Coffee, Jr.

Artikal Sound System say that they have been performing and touring together since 2010 and that their album featuring Live Your Life charted “on the Billboard charts at number 2 in the reggae section in 2017″.

Their track Live Your Life was released via CD Baby in 2017 and was also made available streaming services including Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, Amazon and Sound Cloud.

Within the five page filing, which you can read in full here, Artikal Sound System claim that, “in 2020, on information and belief, defendants listened to and copied Live Your Life before and during the time when they were writing Levitating”.

“Given the degree of similarity, it is highly unlikely that Levitating was created independently from Live Your Life.”

Artikal Sound System

They add: “Levitating is substantially similar to Live Your Life. Given the degree of similarity, it is highly unlikely that Levitating was created independently from Live Your Life.”

The band have also provided what they say in the filing is a copy of the Certificate from the US Copyright Office for their track Live Your Life.

Artikal Sound System are demanding an award of the defendants’ profits and actual damages.

This case is the latest in a series of high-profile copyright lawsuits filed against superstar artists in recent years.

In June 2021, American rap star NLE Choppa (real name Bryson Potts) was sued for copyright infringement over his track Make Em Say, released in August 2020 and taken from his album Top Shotta.

In May 2021, Childish Gambino was sued for copyright infringement over This is America.

In April, BTS and Big Hit (HYBE) were sued for copyright infringement over K-Pop reality TV show I-Land.

In August 2020 Kendrick Lamar was sued for copyright infringement by a musician called Terrance Hayes, over Lamar’s hit single Loyalty, released in 2017 and taken from his fourth album, Damn.

That same month, a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against Lizzo (aka Melissa Jefferson) by three songwriters – Justin and Jeremiah Raisen and Justin ‘Yves’ Rothman – was dismissed by a judge in California.

In July 2020, pop-punk band Yellowcard dropped their $15m copyright lawsuit against Juice Wrld over the late artist’s hit single, Lucid Dreams.

In June 2020, Travis Scott was accused of copyright infringement in a lawsuit filed by Blurred Lines lawyer Richard Busch over his US No.1 single, Highest in the Room.

Meanwhile, in March 2020, a federal court in California overturned the verdict in the Dark Horse copyright infringement suit against Katy Perry – which would have seen her, Capitol Records and her collaborators liable for $2.8 million.

Perry’s win followed Led Zeppelin’s victory over their long-running copyright battle over their classic ’70s song Stairway to Heaven has resulted in a huge victory for the British rock band, as well as their publishing and record label partner, Warner Music Group.

The arrival of the lawsuit this week follows last month’s news that Dua Lipa had parted ways with longtime manager Ben Mawson and management firm, Tap Management.

The Daily Mail reported that Dua’s father, Dukagjin Lipa, will now be taking over management duties for the global star.Music Business Worldwide