Kanye West Settles Lawsuit With Donna Summer Estate Over ‘Good (Don’t Die)’ Sample Dispute
Kanye West has reached a favorable resolution with Donna Summer’s estate, who sued the Yeezy rapper for his alleged use of the late singer’s voice on “Good (Don’t Die).”
Rolling Stone confirms that Summer’s widower, Bruce Sudano, reached a “global settlement” with Ye as of Wednesday (May 15). The settlement, which was initially proposed at the beginning of this month, is now awaiting signatures from all sides, according to documents filed in federal court.
However, if West reneges on the deal or the parties are unable to reach a satisfactory settlement, Sudano warns that he will continue to pursue legal action.
“Plaintiff anticipates that the final settlement agreement can be executed shortly, and soon thereafter, the parties will be in a position to file a stipulation for dismissal of the action in its entirety,” estate lawyer Stanton L. Stein put in his court filing. “In the unlikely event the parties are unable to conclude the settlement by June 14, 2024, plaintiff intends to diligently prosecute the action against all defendants. As such, plaintiff requests that dismissal not be entered at this time.”
Settlement terms were not disclosed in the latest filing.
Back in February, the “Heaven Knows” singer’s estate sued Ye because the song “Good (Don’t Die)” from Vultures 1 features vocals that resemble Summer’s hit song “I Feel Love,” the use of which the estate claims to have rejected.
According to court documents, the Yeezy boss tried circumventing their decision by using an interpolation instead of a sample. This, the estate says, still counts as copyright infringement. As a result, Ye, his collaborator Ty Dolla $ign, and the label through which the song was released are all being sued.
After several attempts at having the song removed from streaming platforms, the Queen of Disco’s team is seeking major damages as well as an injunction that would block the track’s distribution moving forward.
HipHopDX attempted to reach out to Kanye West’s team for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
“Good (Don’t Die)” was originally taken down from Spotify due to issues surrounding the use of “I Feel Love.” The track was subsequently re-uploaded on the Swedish streaming platform.
The credits on the latest version of the song, however, were quite confusing as they listed RichYeRich as the performer, Brian Jamoe as the writer, and no producer. Furthermore, the source was cited as DarkSide LLC, which there are no traces of online.
Since then, the song has once again been removed from all services, though it has already generated millions of streams.
