Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were certainly responsibly for the biggest copyright infraction decision of the last week, which allowed Jay Z to get away relatively headline-free for his settlement with jazz performer Bruno Spoerri over the track "Versus" from Magna Carta...Holy Grail.
The saxophone player, best known among jazz fans for his experimentation with electric saxophone during the '70s, accused the rapper of borrowing from Spoerri's track "On The Way" without clearing the sample.
Spoerri, while somewhat charmed to appear on one of Hov's record, was frustrated that there wasn't an attempt made to use the sample responsibly.
"In a way I'm flattered that a relatively young rapper takes a sample from an old man, a sample that is about 35 years old," he told Swiss Info. "On the other hand I'm furious because it would have been so simple to clear the sample. All it would have needed was a call or an email to the company and I think it would have been relatively cheap."
Spoerri will reportedly receive 50 percent of the royalties from "Versus" as a result of the deal between the two parties. That may sound like a heck of a lot, and it is, but it won't touch the decision passed down in the "Blurred Lines" decision. The latter single was the best-selling song of 2013 and reportedly brought in more than $16 million between Thicke, Williams and T.I., resulting in a $7.3 million payout to the estate of Marvin Gaye for the song's "accidental" influence from the soul singer's "Got To Give It Up." Jay Z's track was never released as a single, meaning it never brought in the massive download numbers that "Lines" did. Spoerri's royalty check will come from the overall sales of the album Magna Carta...Holy Grail.
If the saxophonist wants to make more off of the settlement, all he can do is hope that Jay sells the song for a commercial campaign.
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