Dua Lipa faces multimillion-dollar copyright claim over hit track Levitating
British singer Dua Lipa faces a multimillion-dollar copyright claim over the allegedly unauthorised use of a recording on remixes of her 2020 hit track Levitating.
The lawsuit has been brought by music producer Bosco Kante, who claims the star used his mobile talk box technology without permission.
A talk box is a device that allows musicians to modify the sound of a musical instrument by shaping the frequency content of the sound.
In documents obtained by PA, Mr Kante claims that he was approached about “creating and performing a talk box performance” to be licensed in connection with Levitating.
The filing says that Ms Lipa had permission to use the talk box on the original recording but not on any remixes.
However, Mr Kante claims that his ElectroSpit talk box was used on further releases of Levitating, including The Blessed Madonna remix, which featured Madonna and Missy Elliott, and another popular remix featuring DaBaby.
The DaBaby remix is reportedly the most popular version of the song, and has amassed more than 1.6 billion plays on Spotify.
Mr Kante’s lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles on Monday, claims he is entitled to more than 20 million dollars (£15.7 million).
“Plaintiff made numerous attempts to resolve this matter short of litigation, but such efforts were unsuccessful, due to defendants’ unwillingness to co-operate or accept responsibility for this blatant infringement of plaintiff’s copyrights,” the documents said.
Dua Lipa is yet to comment publicly on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit comes after her contribution to the Barbie movie soundtrack has taken over the UK singles charts by breaking previous records, the Official Charts Company revealed last week.
Barbie: The Album, which accompanies the Greta Gerwig-directed comedy about the Mattel doll of the same name, has become the first film soundtrack to land three top five songs at the same time.
American singer Billie Eilish’s contemplative What Was I Made For? reached number three last week.
While Dua’s Dance The Night reached number four and fifth position was held by the reworking of Aqua’s Barbie World by rappers Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice.
