POST 22 HARLEM SHAKE

In “Surprise Hit Was a Shock for Artists Heard on it”. James McKinley Jr. explains how Hector Delgado (former reggae artist) and Jayson Musson (rapper from Philadelphia) found out that there voices could be heard on the song “Harlem Shake”. Harry Bauer Rodrigues is the producer and the writer of the song. He recorded the song under the name Baauer. Rodrigues never had permission to use parts of their songs in his. Mr.Delgado and Mr. Musson are now trying to get money from "Mad Decent Records" who put out the single.

Licences are needed from the music producer and record labels to use samples from music. But Mad Decent Records "sometimes lack the resources to have lawyers vet releases and instead rely on producers to make sure recordings are free of copyright problems."

According to Nielsen SoundScan, "Harlem Shake" has sold over 816,000 digital downloads. The song was released on Jeffrees, a sublabel of Mad Decent, last May. The label offered the song for free downloads, but started charging in June.

Mr. Delgado's sample in the song can be traced back to his single "Maldades" in 2006 that was released on machete records. Harry Rodrigues said, "The dude in the beginning I got off the Internet, I don't even know where," he told The Daily Beast about finding the recordings. The sample of Musson " do the harlem shake", comes from a 2001 rap called Plastic Little. Musson thanked Rodrigues for doing something useful with his music.

I think both Delgado and Musson should letcompensation just because there voices are in the song. If not, then Harry Rodrigues, shouldn't be aloud to use them. I don't think they should get any more than 100,000 dollars for it each.