Sam Smith and Normani accused of song-theft over Dancing With A Stranger
completemusicupdate.comIt’s definitely the season for song-theft litigation. Sam Smith and Normani have been sued for copyright infringement over their 2019 hit ‘Dancing With A Stranger’.
They are accused of ripping off an earlier track called, well, ‘Dancing With A Stranger’.The earlier track was a collaboration between artist Jordan Vincent and producer Christopher Miranda, the latter part of production duo SKX with Rosco Banlaoi.
And, they all claim, the Smith/Normani song shares a lot more with their work than merely a title.“The hook/chorus in both songs – the most significant part and artistic aspect of these works – contains the lyrics ‘dancing with a stranger’ being sung over a nearly identical melody and musical composition”, a lawsuit filed with the Californian courts states. “In both songs, the title, hook, chorus, lyrics, and musical composition are all the same – and are repeated throughout the song giving both songs their identities”.“It is beyond any real doubt that Smith, Normani and the other defendants copied plaintiff’s work”, the lawsuit goes on. “The protected expression in both the infringing song and plaintiff’s pre-existing work is nearly identical and is strikingly similar”.And they are even more strikingly similar if you tweak the Smith/Normani track so that it’s at the same BMP as Vincent’s record. “It is a common practice in music production to take a reference track and speed it up or slow it down”, the lawsuit explains, adding: “This results in a natural pitch shift which places it in a different key more suited to a particular singer”.“Tellingly”, it adds, “when plaintiff’s song is slowed down from 122 BPM to the 103 BPM used by the infringing song, the key of the two songs match.
Read more on completemusicupdate.com
