A Bay area producer has accused The Dream and Mariah Carey, two of the most recognized names in music of hijacking his song and he has filed suit in federal court to get some justice. After listening to both songs there appears to be a similarity however there are many factors that could have played into this happening.
According to the lawsuit, plaintiffs Preston Marshall and Demario Driver present a fairly standard-order Music Industry Bigwig Rips Off The Little Guy story (though most lawsuits don’t have “aka Symba” next to the plaintiff’s name, as is the case with Driver).
Here’s the story in one breath: Farmer and Symba cut the song “Are You The One” in Farmer’s Oakland recording studio in 2008. Future co-defendant Jeff Huffman of Real Content Media liked the song, and said he would like to get big-name people to co-produce it. Farmer claims that after he e-mailed Huffman various versions of the song, the marketer suddenly stopped returning his messages. Then Farmer heard Carey and The Dream singing “My Love” on Dream’s “Love vs. Money” album. The plaintiffs claim this is their song – and they want at least $450,000.
The suit claims the songs “contain identical melodic coding and the same harmonic protocols that are readily discernible to the human ear”. In other words, they sound alike. A lot! In addition to Huffman and Carey, the suit names The Dream (real name: Terius Youngdell Nash), Island Def Jam Music Group, and others.
According to the lawsuit, when Farmer asked Huffman “Why did you steal my song?” the response he was given was “We can work this out.” Apparently not.
Finally, in an almost certainly unrelated note, Carey is not a stranger to San Francisco District Court. There is a 2008 case in which one Mariah Carey filed an “injunction prohibiting harassment” against Fifty Cent – listed as Cent, Fifty in court records. It was denied. And Carey’s home address is listed as 1001 Polk – the Episcopal Community Services transitional shelter – so we don’t think these are the Mariah Carey and Fifty Cent here.
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