According to NYTimes.com, Hector
Delgado, a former reggaetón artist turned evangelical preacher in Puerto Rico,
and Jayson Musson, a rapper from Philadelphia, are seeking
compensation from Mad Decent Records for the unauthorized use of their voices
on "Harlem Shake," a song
that had gone viral on the Internet and then climbed to the top of the pop
chart.
"Neither [Delgado nor Musson] gave permission to the song’s producer and writer, Harry Bauer Rodrigues, who records under the name Baauer, to use snippets of their records, they said. 'It’s almost like they came on my land and built a house,' Mr. Delgado said.
The label and Mr. Rodrigues [have] declined to comment. But the tale of how an obscure dance track containing possible copyright violations rose to the top of pop charts illustrates not only the free-for-all nature of underground dance music but also the power of an Internet fad to create a sudden hit outside the major-label system....
The label initially offered 'Harlem Shake' as a free download, then began charging for it in June as part of EP.
But sales of the song did not shoot up until last month, when it became the soundtrack for a YouTube dance craze. The fad involved people posting wacky videos of themselves dancing convulsively in absurd costumes to the first 30 seconds of the track, which begins with Mr. Delgado, whose stage name was Hector El Father, singing, 'Con los terroristas' ('With the terrorists'). Mr. Musson sings 'Do the Harlem shake' 15 seconds into the track, a cue for the dancers to thrash around wildly." (Click here to read more)
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