MUMBAI: Tracy Chapman sues  Nicki Minaj for using part of one of her songs. However the artists have the potential to upend the way music is written and how artists borrow from one another as per the case

On 2018 Minaj didn’t release her album as Minaj and her people asked Chapman for permission during and after production of “Sorry,” and Chapman and her reps said no, multiple times.Minaj’s song “Sorry” obviously takes from Chapman’s song “Baby Can I Hold You.” Nobody disputes that.

“What complicates it in this case is that there was further redistribution,” said Eugene Volokh, a professor at UCLA School of Law.

Chapman’s attorneys say Minaj leaked it to a New York DJ, Funkmaster Flex, who then played it. Minaj’s attorneys dispute that. Either way, it got on the air, and then on the internet as the unauthorized song got out.

So Chapman sued, saying Minaj shouldn’t have been allowed to make the unauthorized song in the first place, even as a demo. Minaj’s attorneys say, yes, Minaj was allowed to create the song under an exception to copyright law known as fair use. That’s a key point of disagreement in the case.

Volokh said “The relatively novel legal question here is whether it is a fair use for somebody to make copies of someone else’s work in order to send it to the author and say, ‘Look, listen to it. Isn’t it great? Won’t you license it to me?'”

Artists create something with someone else’s work, and then run it by the original artist. Sean Bradford is an artist who’s done covers of well known songs. That’s how things often work now

Bradford said “Yeah, it’s definitely  you do it, and then you think, ‘is this cool or not?’ Like, the creative process is all about trial and error,”.

Pete Ross, one of Nicki Minaj Attorneys says “Can you imagine what the world would look like if every artist who goes into the studio has to get a license merely to experiment with someone’s music? The world would be a poorer place,”

Tracy Chaplan has the absolute right to control how her intellectual property is performed, presented and exploited as per the law protects said Gatti

Gatti said experimentation is not covered by fair use.