On Thursday, a federal jury ordered Pop star Katy Perry and her record label, Capitol Records to pay Christian rapper Marcus Gray, known professionally as Flame, $2.78 million in damages.
According to reports, Perry’s hit “Dark Horse” copied elements of Gray’s 2008 song, “Joyful Noise.”
As a leading single off of Perry’s fourth studio album ‘Prism,’ the song hit #1 on the Billboard charts, where it remained for four weeks.
It was also nominated for a Grammy award in the ‘Best Pop Duo/Group Performance’ category, as it featured rapper Juicy J.
Capitol Records, Perry, and co-writer Sarah Hudson were all found liable for copyright infringement. The lawsuit also included the song’s producers Max Martin, Dr. Luke, and Cirkut.
Five years ago, Gray and two co-writers filed the infringement lawsuit, insisting that a 16-second musical riff from his song was used largely for the instrumental of the song.
Perry was ordered to pay the rapper $550,000, while her record label must pay over $1 million.
Additional writers and producers were also ordered to pay a large sum of money.
Nia Primus
