Declan Colgan Music Ltd resolved their legal case with Universal Music Group (UMG) about a Kanye West song that uses a sample from King Crimson’s ’21st Century Schizoid Man.’
Declan Colgan Music Ltd claimed as the owner of the rights to ’21st Century Schizoid Man’ that Universal Music Group (UMG) hadn’t paid enough in streaming royalties for West’s song ‘Power,’ which samples the King Crimson track. They sued UMG in London’s High Court in March 2022.
Although Kanye wasn’t involved in the lawsuit, he used the King Crimson sample in his 2010 song. The case was supposed to go to trial this week but was settled out of court. The details of the settlement haven’t been made public, but it’s understood that Declan Colgan Music Ltd received payment as part of the agreement. Representatives for both Declan Colgan Music Ltd and UMG declined to comment.
West Didn’t Get Permission For The Track
King Crimson released ’21st Century Schizoid Man’ on their first album, ‘In the Court of the Crimson King,’ in 1969. It became one of their most famous songs. In a lawsuit by Declan Colgan Music Ltd, it’s claimed that West sampled the track without permission in his song ‘Power.’ The ‘Power’ video has over 140 million views on YouTube since its upload in 2010 and is part of West’s album ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.’
After the song and album came out, UMG and West’s company Rock the World made an agreement with Declan Colgan Music Ltd. This agreement entitled Declan Colgan Music Ltd to royalties. The deal said they would get royalties just like West did.
West’s deal with UMG said his royalties for streaming and CDs would be similar. But Declan Colgan Music Ltd noted in their lawsuit that they didn’t get as much money for streaming as they did for CD sales. Declan Colgan Music Ltd had Clintons as their lawyers, while UMG had Russells.