Lawsuit Over Kanye West’s King Crimson Sample Settled

A lawsuit from 2022 involving King Crimson and Kanye West has finally been settled.

Two years ago, Declan Colgan Music Ltd (DCM) sued Universal Music Group (UMG) for underpaid streaming royalties from Kanye West’s 2010 song, “Power,” which samples King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man.” (DCM owns the mechanical rights to Crimson’s 1969 song.)

Back in 2010, DCM alleged that West did not properly license “21st Century Schizoid Man” before uploading his own song to YouTube and including it on his 2010 album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. A deal was reached then: West could keep the sample in return for a 5.33 percent royalty on each copy of “Power” that was sold. But over a decade later, DCM argued that they should be compensated the same royalty percentage for digital streams as for physical CD sales.

“[UMG] has failed, and continues to fail, to comply with its royalty accounting obligations in respect of one mode of exploitation,” the suit, filed in London’s High Court in March 2022, said, “namely the making available of the ‘Power’ recording to consumers through so-called ‘streaming’ services.'”

READ MORE: The Best Song From Every King Crimson Album

Now, the suit has been settled out of court, narrowly avoiding the trial that was slated to begin this week. West was not party to the suit, and the exact terms of the settlement have not been disclosed. According to Variety, DCM has received payment as part of the agreement, though both they and UMG have declined to comment on the matter.

Robert Fripp of King Crimson has been vocal about both his disputes with UMG over the years, as well as his disillusionment with the music business in general.

“Do you believe that Rostropovich was playing a cello just for a living? Do you believe that Hendrix was playing for money?” the guitarist told the UK Financial Times in 2012. “Music is a language in which we can express our struggle with what it is to be a human being. This is at the center of what created King Crimson. Today I remain responsible for that… how can I lie to that? If I do, I cease to be human.”