Rock legends the Rolling Stones will soon appear in court.
The surviving members of the band are being sued for copyright infringement over a song that is only two-and-a-half years old. The track, “Living In A Ghost Town,” was released in the spring of 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was recorded and included on the compilation album “Honk” from a year earlier.
The band’s late longtime drummer Charlie Watts would pass away a year later at the age of 80. Steve Jordan, a longtime friend of the band and drummer for Keith Richards’ solo project The X-Pensive Winos, would replace Watts on tour.
‘Living In A Ghost Town’ Was Released During The Early Days Of The COVID-19 Pandemic
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Rolling Stones frontman, Mick Jagger, shared details about the song in a statement following its release.
“So the Stones were in the studio recording some material before the lockdown and there was one song we thought would resonate through the times we’re living in right now,” Jagger said. “We’ve worked on it in isolation,” he added. (via Billboard)
The “Hard Woman” singer wrote “Living In A Ghost Town” alongside his longtime Stones writing partner, Richards, as Billboard also reports.
The Rolling Stones Are Facing A Copyright Lawsuit Over ‘Living In A Ghost Town’
The lawsuit was filed last week.
As Billboard reports, songwriter Sergio Garcia Fernandez filed in New Orleans on Friday, alleging Jagger and Richards had lifted elements from two of his songs.
Fernandez- better known as his deejay name Angelsang- alleges Jagger got the inspiration for the song by way of a “demo CD” Fernandez had allegedly given to one of Jagger’s relatives.
The lawsuit states, “The immediate family member… confirmed receipt… to the plaintiff via email and expressed that the musical works of the plaintiff and its style was a sound the Rolling Stones would be interested in using.”
Fernandez also pinpoints various elements of his two songs, originally recorded in the mid-aughts, that were reportedly used in “Living In A Ghost Town.”
He lists the “vocal melodies, the chord progressions, the drum beat patterns, the electric bass line parts, the tempos, and other key signatures” from the track “So Sorry” and claims Jagger had gotten inspiration for the “harmonic chord progression and melody” from another one of his songs, “Seed Of God.” The former track was released in 2006, and the latter a year later.
The band took matters into their own hands in order to avoid a lawsuit in the mid-nineties after the release of the Richards-penned “Anybody Seen My Baby.” The track has a similar melody to k.d. lang’s “Constant Craving” from 1992. The former song appears on the album “Bridges To Babylon.”
The Rolling Stones had given Lang a songwriting credit ahead of the song and album’s release, according to Songfacts. Angelina Jolie appears in its music video.
As of this writing, representatives for The Rolling Stones have not spoken out publicly against the allegations, the outlet also reports.
Billboard also reported Fernandez’s two tracks have less than 1,000 streams on Spotify.
