Russian producer and DJ Artem Stoliarov or ARTY (also known as ALPHA 9) is taking international pop megastar Marshmello to federal court in the United States over copyright infringement. ARTY claims that Marshmello, Daniel Campbell Smith of Bastille and Steve Mac copied the remixed portion of ARTY’s take on OneRepublic‘s ‘I Lived’ for the chorus of the double-platinum track ‘Happier’ by Marshmello.
Stoliarov’s attorney is none other than famed Nashville copyright attorney Richard Busch. Busch is known most recently for winning Marvin Gaye‘s lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for ‘Blurred Lines’. The suit for Stoliarov claims damages for the infringement, and a detail of how much money the Marshmello song has actually made.
“Arty claims out of the 20 notes, the order of the first 19 notes are identical. Arty says he and Marshmello are acquaintances and often perform at the same music festivals. [he] also claims Marshmello was at one of his shows and saw him perform his “I Lived” remix.” – TMZ
Listening to the two tracks side by side makes it hard to ignore the similarities. Listen to the chorus of ‘I Lived’ first around 1:49, then listen to the chorus of ‘Happier’ at 0:49 played back at 1.25x playback speed.
This controversy around Marshmello is tacking onto the recent lambasting he has taken in the media from CHVRCHES for collaborating with Chris Brown, fuelled further by Jai Wolf.
