In recent copyright news, Nicki Minaj found herself paying the price for sampling a track from Tracy Chapman’s song released in 1988 titled “Baby can I hold you” on her unreleased song “Sorry” which was part of her album “Queen” of 2018. In her defence, she claimed that she didn’t release the song and sought for permission from Tracy Chapman’s representatives. Although the permission was never granted, Nicki’s team went ahead and sampled the track without the copyright owner’s permission.


Copyright protects the author/owner’s rights in their works, which means they have the exclusive right to benefit from any use of their works as long as they give permission. Copyright protection lasts until the lifetime of the author and 50-70 years after the death of the author depending on jurisdictions. In order to avoid a $450 000 dollar lawsuit, all Nicki had to was ask and make sure permission was granted for the use of the works. Infringement occurs when there is unauthorised use and adaptation of copyright work.


Most artists nowadays in different parts of the world fail to realise the importance of the works they use and how they should benefit from the works they create. Lucky enough the two parties, Nicki Minaj and Tracy Chapman, settled their differences which to my opinion, sends out a fair warning to all artists.


All you need to do to avoid a lawsuit is seek permission from the author/singer-songwriter, acknowledge their works and pay for the use of someone’s work. Don’t be a Nicki!

(Image credit: star magazine.com)