EMI Suing Def Jam Rapstar Devs Over Song Rights

Def Jam Rapstar

Written Friday, March 30, 2012 By Lee Bradley

The makers of Def Jam Rapstar are being sued by EMI for allegedly failing to clear the rights to the tracks featured in the game.

Record label EMI wants $150,000 in damages for every song in the game. They reckon there’s 54 unlicensed tracks, meaning developers 4mm Games and Terminal Reality may have to pay out more than $8 million.

It gets worse too. On top of the $150,000 per track, EMI want a cut of the game’s profits too. Furthermore, the record company says that it own the rights to distribute, display and publicly perform its tracks - all of which have been infringed due to the nature of Def Jam Rapstar’s gameplay. That could mean further claims for damages.

EMI reckons that it notified the developers about the issue, but was ignored.

[via The Hollywood Reporter]

User Comments

Forum Posts: 38	Comment #1 by Delta_Dave13 Friday, March 30, 2012 @ 05:32:22 AM	(0)
	Who else wants to put their finger in the pie.

Forum Posts: 13	Comment #2 by AndyBeans Friday, March 30, 2012 @ 05:39:18 AM	(3)
	I smell a rat; my guess is that EMI DID license the songs, but they've now realised they could get more by pretending that this game uses them in a way which infringes the agreed license conditions. Record companies can fuck off IMO, I only buy tunes from indie labels; artists invariably become inane parodies of themselves once they move to major labels, especially in hip hop where they stop getting inspiration from their lowly beginnings and just start chatting crap about being rich and famous.

Forum Posts: 1612	Comment #3 by WINAS3 Friday, March 30, 2012 @ 05:40:48 AM	(0)
	Mighty nice hole they've dug themselves into.

Forum Posts: 1	Comment #4 by SweGabe Friday, March 30, 2012 @ 05:43:23 AM	(0)
	Greedy record label is greedy.

Forum Posts: 385	Comment #5 by The Cosmic Suff Friday, March 30, 2012 @ 06:04:31 AM	(1)
	"If your in the music business, you better like sex because your gonna get fucked alot."

Forum Posts: 578	Comment #6 by TheEndofWhyOU Friday, March 30, 2012 @ 07:47:07 AM	(-5)
	Another reason why gaming will never be taken seriously... ON A MORE POSITIVE NOTE: I'm in the process of developing a book entitled GAME CREATION STORY that allows you to pick your own character,setting, and skills, and then proceed to try to beat the game through choices. If this sounds like a good idea, and is something you would buy, please like this comment.

Forum Posts: 146	Comment #7 by wheatley Friday, March 30, 2012 @ 07:53:31 AM	(1)
	Reading the full article, EMI only have part ownership of songs (say, all under 20% per song), or they own a song that was sampled for a rap song that was included in Def Jam Rapstar... But they still demand the full $150,000 damages for each song. God. Stick with rock bands, then you'll likely not overlook 2 out of 16 different writers for one song... EMI "reckons" it contacted them. I doubt a call about unpaid licenses, with a potential to sue for millions, would go unnoticed. The game makers didn't pay a company that has only a small percentage ownership of a song, probably due to poor research. And EMI waited for the greedy time to strike. Let's all give a big hand to the lawyers!

Forum Posts: 432	Comment #8 by Portlandridah Friday, March 30, 2012 @ 09:36:08 AM	(0)
	so I can safely believe there isn't gonna be a sequel? shame 1st DJ HERO now Rapstar shit, all I have left are Rocksmith n Rock Band to look forward to in the music game department

Forum Posts: 210	Comment #9 by randomguy666 Friday, March 30, 2012 @ 09:58:47 AM	(0)
	that'll teach companies not to use songs without making sure all the conditions are met.

Forum Posts: 307	Comment #10 by nycking Friday, March 30, 2012 @ 01:37:03 PM	(0)
	Funny how after a year and a half all this comes to light now. Sounds like greed.

Forum Posts: 37	Comment #11 by tincann Friday, March 30, 2012 @ 01:55:03 PM	(0)
	And not a penny would Actually go to the Artists.

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Game Info

Developer: Terminal Reality and 4mm Games Publisher: Konami Genre: Music Release: US: October 05, 2010 Europe: November 26, 2010
Resolution: 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Sound: Dolby 5.1
Players: 1-2
ESRB: Teen

Collection:	49
Wishlist:	6

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