The Weeknd is facing a lawsuit by the group Epikker, who allege that he plagiarised their song ‘Vibeking’ on his track ‘Call Out My Name’.
The Weeknd and his collaborators Nicolas Jaar and Frank Dukes are being sued by the group Epikker on grounds of plagiarism. Epikker’s Suniel Fox and Henry Strange allege that the singer and his team plagiarised their 2015 track ‘Vibeking’ on his song ‘Call Out My Name’.
The duo also named Universal Music Group and other companies associated with the Weeknd in their lawsuit. Presently, they are seeking that he forfeit all profits made from ‘Call Out My Name’ to them, as well as be blocked from performing the track until the case reaches conclusion.
The lawsuit claims that the two songs “contain quantitatively and qualitatively similar material in their respective lead guitar and vocal hooks, including melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic elements distinctive to ‘Vibeking.’”
In their lawsuit, Fox and Strange state: “Both works are in a minor key. Both works are in a 6/8 meter that is less common in popular music. Both works are played at a similar tempo. And both works use features of electronica, ambience, pop, hip-hop, rock, and R&B to achieve a particular atmospheric and melancholic sound.”
They also claim to have proof of correspondence with PNDA – The Weeknd’s engineer and DJ – who allegedly told them that they would not be credited on the track.
“Just gonna tell [The Weeknd] that our production team wrote the track. Cool? Or u have another idea? Just don’t wanna say ‘hey, [Strange] wrote this’ when he doesn’t know u.” PNDA told them, as reported by Stereogum.
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Fox and Strange’s allegations are not the first time The Weeknd has been accused of ripping off tracks. Last year, Brooklyn-based act Yeasayer sued the singer and Kendrick Lamar for allegedly plagiarising their track ‘Sunrise’ for the Black Panther song ‘Pray For Me’. Four months later, however, they dropped the lawsuit after confirming that “no copyright infringement occurred.”
In 2014, Portishead’s Geoff Barrow also called out The Weeknd for sampling their track ‘Machine Gun’ on ‘Belong To The World’. Barrow claimed he had denied permission for the track to be used, but the Weeknd only claimed that the song was ‘inspired’ by Portishead.
You can read more about this topic over at the Pop Observer.
