Kanye West and Donna Summer’s estate have reached a settlement in a copyright dispute over the late Disco icon's 1977 hit I Feel Love.
West, who changed his name to Ye, used the track in his 2024 album Vultures 1, which triggered the lawsuit initiated by Bruce Sudano, Summer’s widower and executor of her estate.
In February, Sudano claimed that the rapper and his collaborator Ty Dolla $ign had used the song without permission. Consequently, the track was removed from streaming services.
Sudano stated that Ye “shamelessly used instantly recognisable portions” of the song despite being “explicitly denied” permission to do so by the estate.
The lawsuit, filed in a Los Angeles federal court, asserted that the estate did not want to be associated with Ye's controversial reputation and made that known to him before he released the track.
“In the face of this rejection, defendants arrogantly and unilaterally decided they would simply steal ‘I Feel Love’ and use it without permission,” the complaint read.
The reputation issue referred to by the estate is said to include Ye’s numerous antisemitic public rants, including praise for Adolph Hitler, which led to Adidas ending their billion-dollar shoe collaboration with him, and his previous statement that slavery was something black Americans could’ve avoided as it was “a choice”.
On June 20, lawyers for both parties announced they had “entered into a settlement agreement that is a full and final settlement of all of the claims in the action”.
“We did not licence the song," Sudano stated. "As part of the settlement, they have agreed not to distribute or otherwise use the song. So we got what we wanted.”
Other terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The lawsuit highlighted that the Summer estate was concerned not only about the commercial value of I Feel Love but also about preserving Summer’s legacy.
“West is known as a controversial public figure whose conduct has led numerous brands and business partners to disassociate from him,” the complaint noted.
Summer, the Queen of Disco, passed away from lung cancer in 2012 at the age of 63.
I Feel Love, co-written by Summer, Giorgio Moroder, and Pete Bellotte, was part of her 1977 album I Remember Yesterday, a landmark in electronic dance music.
