Tracing the song, Katy Perry and her partner were fined Rp40 billion

US singer Katy Perry, along with her record label, are required to pay more than USD2, 78 million (Rp40 billion) because the 2013 pop song "Dark Horse" is considered to be copying the Christian rap song "Joyful Noise". The decision was delivered by the court jury on Thursday (1/8) local time. This is at the same time a victory for rapper Marcus Gray who sings the rap song. 

Photo from: sindonews

Gray is increasingly famous after her efforts to sue in court over the past five years against top lawyers who defend Perry and five other music industry figures who write songs for Perry. But the amount of fines Perry and his partner have to pay is less than the value proposed by Gray's lawyer and two songwriters

"Joyful Noise" in 2009 amounting to USD20 million (Rp284 billion). However, Gray and her lawyer team were satisfied with the jury's decision. "The defendants have made millions and millions of dollars of copyright infringement," Gray's lawyer, Michael A. Kahn told the jury, Business Insider said.

Perry herself received a fine of USD550,000 (Rp7.8 billion), with the record label Capitol Records responsible for the majority of the fine. The plaintiff's attorney argued that he was entitled to get USD360,000 after the jury decided earlier this week that Dark Horse plagiarized Joyful Noise. 

Katy Perry's lawyer, Christine Lepera, will appeal the court's decision. "Dark Horse songwriters consider this a parody of justice," Lepera said. The court ruled that the fine was given to Katy Perry because the instrumental rhythm of Joyful Noise was raised for 45% on the song Dark Horse, Kahn assessed that his client was entitled to get 45% of all Perry's album revenue titled "Prism" in which the song was included.

However, Perry's lawyer recommended splitting the money based on the number of songs on the album. Unfortunately, the idea was rejected by Kahn. "One CD (compact disc) is one CD, you cannot break it into several pieces. Each album has one popular song. And not every song, but the most popular song on the album, "Kahn said. 

Perry's lawyer and partners, including Capitol Records and producer Dr. Luke, claim the millions of damages requested by Gray are based on ridiculous numbers. "They are not seeking justice. They just try to get as much money as possible, "Perry's lawyer and partner Aaron M Wais told the jury. Wais believes, based on expert testimony, disputes related to Dark Horse are only worth 5% of the song's revenue.

She argues, the biggest driver of the song's revenue is not related to the song itself but Perry's fame which had become a big star when he recorded the song. "The reason why people buy Katy Perry's album, buy Katy Perry's song, this is because it's Katy Perry. If you replace him with an anonymous musician, do you think it will sell well? "Wais told the judges.

In the final stage of the trial on Monday (7/29), the judges were surprised to learn that there were six Dark Horse writers responsible for plagiarizing from Joyful Noise, even though only the instrumental tracks were disputed. That includes Perry, who only co-wrote the song's lyrics, and Juicy J who only provided rap breaks for the song. 

All the songwriters testified that they had never heard Gray or his song before him and other songwriters, Emanuel Lambert, and Chike Ojukwu, filed a lawsuit five years ago. However, Gray and her lawyer only had to prove that they had many opportunities to listen to the song.

Collectively, songwriters earned around $ 10 million in revenue for the song before release and Capitol Records had $ 31 million in revenue, sparking a $ 41 million lawsuit. { Source }