Kanye West Faces Lawsuits Over Unpaid Bills, Uncredited Music Samples

• Kanye West was without business partners after his business partners left him for antisemitic tirades. 
• He attempted it earlier with his music, and was hit with copyright lawsuits for sampling.
• In recent years, West has also been subject to lawsuits alleging that West ripped off employees and contractors.

Kanye West shed his business infrastructure earlier this year when he released his eleventh album, “Donda 2”.

He didn’t release it under Def Jam Recordings. It was the Universal-owned record label he’s been calling home since 2004, when he released “The College Dropout.” He also didn’t use GOOD Music, which he founded.

He released it instead. West — who also goes by the name Ye — decided to put “Donda 2” on the Stem Player, a music remixing device he helped invent that costs about $200.

It is impossible to know if “Donda 2”, the sequel to the original, was a flop. Billboard refused to chart itHowever, the rollout was a disaster. Many fans simply pirated the albumInstead of paying for the Stem Player. The result was a slew of lawsuits by people who claimed West failed to credit their songs when they used samples for the album.

The “Donda 2” fiasco hints at the legal risks West faces as major financial and brand partners have abandoned himHis hateful conspiracy theories and violent threats toward Jews. He claimed that he had already fallen from grace, having lost fans and said that he was ready to die. owing the IRS $50 millionIt appears that they are unable or unwilling to hire qualified tax advisors.

West has been busy launching a presidential campaign and planning his own fashion projects, even though he doesn’t have the corporate infrastructure. a ragtag group of white nationalists.

If recent history is any guide, he’ll face many more legal problems.

Lawsuits allege West did not get the rights to songs in ‘Donda 2’

An earlier in the month, a recording company sued WestHe claimed that he had violated the copyright of the company by knowingly sampling the song “South Bronx”, by Boogie Down Productions, on his song “Life of the Party.”

According to the lawsuit, West knew that the song was infringing on copyright because his clearance agent requested permission to use it on “Donda 2”, but never received it.

“The communications confirmed that South Bronx has been incorporated into Infringing Track even though West hadn’t obtained such license,” the lawsuit states. “Despite the fact that South Bronx’s final clearance for the Infringing Track had never been granted, the Infringing Track could be reproduced, sold and distributed in many ways.

Worse, West, his pals, used “Life of the Party”, to market the Stem Player, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that the Stem Player encourages copyright infringement because it allows people to “split songs into stems that can be freely customized and manipulated with the device.”

The lawsuit followed one similar from June, in the context of which another label was used. alleged West sampled a different song on a “Donda 2” track without permission.

“Specifically, West’s song ‘Flowers’ — reportedly written about his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian — directly samples an iconic song written by another Chicago native, Marshall Jefferson, in 1986,” the lawsuit says. “That song, titled “Move Your Body” and also known as “The House Music Anthem”, is instantly recognisable. The unauthorized sample taken from West is at least 22 times in ‘Flowers.”

The case is being supervised by Analisa Torres in the United States District Court. On October 31, the judge ordered that the parties prepare for trial as they had failed to reach a settlement.

Unfortunately for West the order was issued right after he threatened “death cons 3” against Jews. Greenberg Traurig LLP lawyers asked Torres for permission to withdraw from the case. Although they filed their reasoning under seal Torres indicated that she would grant their request if they can prove that they served West with documents stating they are dumping West.

Insider reached out to representatives for West and Greenberg Trauring but they didn’t immediately respond.

West allegedly took peoples prayers and sang them in his songs, without charging them.

Every popular artist in music is sued by lesser-known artists for copyright infringement. It’s part of the business.

West’s proclivity to sample from undiscovered places is what makes him unique. His song “Come to Life,”His 2021 album “Donda” features a portion of a sermon as a refrain, while West sings about sorrow and salvation.

Texas-based pastor Bishop David Paul Moten claims he preached the sermon. He sued West in May alleging that the sermon was used without his permission. West also claimed that he and his music producers never paid him for the samples.

Plaintiff sued to claim that defendants extensively sampled portions the Sermon, both willfully and unintentionally. “Defendants have displayed an alarming pattern of and practice of willfully, and egregiously sampling sounds recordings of others over a period of many years.”

Later court filings indicated that Moten had planned to temporarily withdraw his lawsuit after he secured a copyright for the sermon. Insider was told by Moten that the lawsuit is “definitely continuing” and that he would refer all questions to his lawyer, who didn’t immediately respond to a request.

West reached a settlement with the other side in January 2021 for a situation similar to his.

In 2019, the guardians for a 4-year-old girl (identified by “NG” in court filings). sued WestThank you for tasting her prayers. which went viral on InstagramIn his track “Ultralight Beam.”

A member West’s team reached out for permission to use the song in 2016 days before it was released. However, the parties failed to reach a written agreement, and West didn’t pay West the amount required to use the prayer audio.

Court records show that the parties reached a settlement after West’s guardians convinced the judge to order West to take a deposition.

West has a history of not paying people who work for his company.

West has been accused of pilfering songs and has been sued in a few cases alleging he failed pay for the work done on his behalf.

These lawsuits include:

All of these lawsuits were filed within the past three years and are still pending. West has not yet responded to the court filings or denied the allegations.

However, he settled in a similar case. In September of 2021, he reached an agreement with MyChannel, a company that alleged West stiffed it millions of dollars. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed to the court.

The lawsuit claims that MyChannel spent months creating proprietary technology at West’s request for his fashion brands. West then failed to make the promised investment in the company. The company wasted months on the work and even moved its headquarters to be closer to West.

According to the lawsuit, West used MyChannel e-commerce technology to sell clothes at a concert. According to the lawsuit, it was so obvious that even West’s closest friends praised MyChannel’s work.

MyChannel reached out to West’s manager after the concert but received no response. According to the lawsuit