Deadmau5 in copyright spat on social media
Electronic dance artist and producer Deadmau5 has been embroiled in a copyright spat with Louisiana-based rap duo $uicideboy$.
Deadmau5 sent tweets to $uicideboy$ between September 6 and September 7.
The dispute started when the producer was tweeted by Twitter user E.33 on September 6: “I love ur [sic] music man. But did u [sic] do that to them for the sample?”
Deadmau5 replied: “What fu*king sample? Never heard of them.”
The disputed song by $uicideboy$ is called “Antarctica”, which Deadmau5 claims infringes his song “I remember”, produced with US record producer Kaskade.
“I remember” features on Deadmau5’s third studio album, “Random Album Title”, which was released in September 2008.
$uicideboy$ is a New Orleans-based rap duo formed of members Ruby da Cherry and $lick $loth. In 2015, the duo released two extended play tracks and an album. Almost all of their music is self-produced.
After the contact with E.33, Deadmau5 directly tweeted $lick $loth saying “you could have actually asked”. Another user defended the pair, tweeting: “Right but like they’re underground lol they’re legitimate just now getting big, that song has been out for awhile btw [sic].”
Deadmau5 replied: “The. Circumstances. Around. Using. Other. Peoples [sic]. Work. Without. Consent. Does. Not. Matter. Period.”
Deadmau5 also defended himself by saying: “Just read my mentions and find out. It’s kinda [sic] strange how you get sh*t on for simply defending your rights.”
Later on in the spat, Deadmau5 tweeted: “There are way too many copyright experts on Twitter.”
Audio distribution platform SoundCloud appears to have removed “Antarctica” from the band’s profile on the site.
Deadmau5 also replied to another user saying that “we actually decided to copyright it when it was written and published ... eight fu*king years ago.”
During the spat, Deadmau5 tweeted that he is an independent artist and that in terms of “making money”, protecting his rights is one way to do that.
He added that “ I’m sorry? Nobody is stopping anyone from creating original work. Keyword here: original work.”
The dispute ended when Deadmau5 tweeted that he had to “fly”.
In April this year, WIPR reported that Deadmau5 had sued a Californian e-cigarette company for trademark infringement. Through his subsidiary Ronica, Deadmau5 said that West Coast Vape Supply was manufacturing, marketing and distributing products under the name ‘Deadmodz’ and infringing the ‘Deadmau5’ mark.
