"And Moby, you can get sued by Salsoul."
At least, that's what Eminem so nearly rapped in his 2002 song "Without Me," and now, it's happening. Yesterday (March 25), it was reported that New York disco/funk label VMG Salsoul is suing the electronic musician for two songs he released 22 years ago that used music owned by the label as samples.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Salsoul claims that Moby (né Richard Melville Hall) improperly used the song "Let No Man Put Asunder" by First Choice in his 1992 songs "Next is the E" and "Thousand." Both songs appear on his 1992 album Moby, though "Thousand" appears only as a B-side.
The lawsuit states the Salsoul is seeking $150,000 for each song (totaling $300,00) as well as attorney's fees.
This isn't the first musical copyright infringement case VMG Salsoul has filed. Last year, the company lost a similar bid regarding Madonna's "Vogue" and a 1976 track titled "Love Brick."
As THR points out, nowadays labels and artists go through great care to clear a sample before recording and releasing a song. However, when the practice was less common in the early 1990s, the legality of sampling was much murkier.
