Singer-songwriter Alice Merton has sued Kanye West - or Ye if you prefer - over an uncleared sample on a track released as part of his ‘Vultures’ project.
According to a lawsuit filed in California, West initially showcased his track ‘Gun To My Head’, which samples Merton’s song ‘Blindside’, without asking for permission, prompting reports that she was collaborating with the controversial rapper.
When West subsequently asked for a licence to sample ‘Blindside’, Merton declined the request via her publisher BMG, on the basis the rapper’s “values are contrary to our values”, only to find herself on the receiving end of endless online abuse from his fans.
Merton’s reasons for not wanting to be associated with West are pretty straightforward. Her lawsuit notes West’s frequent antisemitic and racist remarks, adding that the singer-songwriter is “a German resident who has close ties to the holocaust through Jewish family members who survived its horrors, and as such feels closely connected to it”.
As a result, Merton and her business partners were “understandably shocked and humiliated” when, out of the blue, West played the ‘Blindside’ sampling ‘Gun To My Head’ at an event in Miami in December 2023. “Merton’s name was suddenly appearing everywhere”, the lawsuit says, with reports that ‘Gun To My Head’ was a collaboration between her, West and the track's guest artist Kid Cudi.
West’s representatives then got in touch in February 2024 to get a licence for the sample, presumably because the rapper planned to include the track on his second ‘Vultures’ album, which was released in August last year. Merton refused to issue a licence for the track, which meant ‘Gun To My Head’ was not initially included on ‘Vultures 2’.
However, because West had already debuted the track at the 2023 event, the rapper’s fans were expecting it and, when it wasn’t included, “blamed Merton for not authorising the use of her song and began contacting her directly”.
Those fans, the lawsuit adds, “were relentless, making threats to Merton should she not clear the sample”. West “did nothing to stop the abuse”, it reveals, “allowing his fans to intimidate and harass Merton”.
As a result of those threats, “Merton feared returning to America for further tour dates”, and stopped performing ‘Blindside’ at her own shows “for fear of confrontation or potential violence against her”.
Although not initially included on ‘Vultures 2’, Stereogum notes that ‘Gun To My Head’ was “later included on the album’s digital deluxe edition”. And while it has since been removed from the streaming services, “plenty of fans have re-uploaded rips of it online”.
Merton accuses West of copyright infringement and unfair competition, and wants an injunction stopping any future distribution of 'Gun To My Head', as well as damages.
West, of course, has been on the receiving end of numerous lawsuits over the years accusing him of copyright infringement for releasing tracks with uncleared samples.
Artists have become understandably all the more angry at their tracks being sampled by the rapper without permission as he has become a much more controversial figure in his own right.