The estate of Donna Summer has reached a settlement with Kanye West, who is also known as Ye, over an alleged copyright dispute about Summer’s 1977 song “I Feel Love” featuring in the 2024 album Vultures 1.
Summer’s widower and her estate’s executor Bruce Sudano brought a lawsuit in February claiming West and Ty Dolla $ign, a collaborator on Vultures 1, were not authorised to use her song. The track featuring the song has since been removed from the album on streaming services.
Sudano said West “shamelessly used instantly recognisable portions” of the song despite being “explicitly denied” permission to do so on 3 February.
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Los Angeles, added that the Summer estate denied permission because they “wanted no association with West’s controversial history”.
“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 said.
On 20 June, lawyers for Ye and Summer’s estate said they had “entered into a settlement agreement that is a full and final settlement of all of the claims in the action”.
Both parties would cover their own legal costs.
Larry Stein, lead counsel for Summer’s estate, told Billboard the settlement did not give West permission to use her music in the future.
“We did not licence the song,” he said.
“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 revealed.
Summer, known as the Queen of Disco, died of lung cancer in 2012 at the age of 63.
“I Feel Love” was written by Summer, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte for the late singer’s 1977 album I Remember Yesterday, which is considered one of the first instances of electronic dance music.
“The Summer Estate not only considered the immense commercial value of the ‘I Feel Love’ composition, but also the potential degradation to Summer’s legacy,” the lawsuit said.
“West is known as a controversial public figure whose conduct has led numerous brands and business partners to disassociate from him.”
West, who changed his name to Ye in 2021, faced backlash in 2022 over allegedly antisemitic social media posts, with several brands like Balenciaga, JP Morgan bank, Gap and talent scouts Creative Artists Agency cutting ties with him.
Adidas announced they were severing ties with West in 2022 and an investigation revealed that the singer had a history of sexually offensive and antisemitic behaviour, including allegedly telling a Jewish former adidas executive to “hang a photo of Hitler in his kitchen and kiss it every day to practise unconditional love”.
The Independent has reached out to Ye’s representatives for comment.
