IP Law Daily, COPYRIGHT NEWS: Nicki Minaj purloined a song from an aspiring songwriter, a new lawsuit claims, (Jun 28, 2023)

By Matthew Hersh, J.D.

The complaint asserts that Minaj associates swiped a hard drive from a recording studio and borrowed aspects of the original.

Unnamed associates of pop superstar Nicki Minaj managed to get their hands on a hard drive left in a recording studio and purloined aspects of the underlying “instrumentation and beat” of one of the songs on that drive, a new federal complaint alleges. But the lawsuit, brought by an aspiring songwriter in the federal court for Los Angeles, is likely to face an uphill battle as the songwriter attempts to demonstrate that Minaj had access to his work and that the two works were substantially similar (Johnson v. Maraj, June 26, 2023, Anderson, P.).

The lawsuit involves “I Lied,” a song by Nicki Minaj (born Onika Tanya Maraj) from her third studio album The Pinkprint. The album reached number two on the US Billboard charts and was certified as double-platinum by the RIAA. Minaj has described the album as her “most personal” in that it speaks of “family, loss, death” and mostly “guilt” over her inattention to family and relationships in the wake of her rising fame.

But not everybody was a fan of the album, Singer Julius Johnson, a Tennessee songwriter, wrote a composed a musical work entitled “onmysleeve.” (Readers can find the song on YouTube here). The song, as with Minaj’s, was written at a heavily emotional time as the songwriter was battling “severe depression” and sought an outlet to “avoid being consumed in self-harm, drug abuse, and thoughts of suicide.” The songwriter alleges a modest web of intrigue. In 2013, he contends, he studied audio production at arts institute in Atlanta, at the same time that two (unnamed) “associates and/or affiliates” of Minaj were present. At some point he alleges, a hard drive containing a recording of his song was taken—allegedly, he contends, by those associates.

But those unnamed associates not only took the hard drive, he contends, but then used it to purloin aspects of song. “When played in tandem,” the complaint alleges, the two works contain “the same style instrument bed, rhythm, beats per minute, and song key.” (A side-by-side comparison of the two works is posted on the website of the songwriter’s law firm.).

The songwriter demands actual damages and profits, statutory damages, and injunctive relief. The lawsuit names Minaj as well as her extensive team of record labels, producers, and songwriters. Minaj did not publicly comment, but according to the always-colorful TMZ, “Nicki Sources Call[ed] BS.”

Comments: The lawsuit is sure to face some considerable challenges. The allegations concerning access are the most problematic for the songwriter—he alleges only vaguely that “unnamed associates” of Nicky Minaj took his hard drive, and his song has garnered fewer that two thousand views on YouTube in 11 years. Should it proceed that far, Minaj and her musical team are also likely to make the claim that the musical similarities between the song are basically standard R&B fare that Minaj could have gotten from anywhere.

The case is No. 2:23-cv-05061.

Attorneys: Dayna C. Cooper (Cooper Legal LLC) for Julius Johnson.

Companies: Universal Music Group Inc.; Songs of Universal Inc.

News: Copyright CaliforniaNews