Ye

Coachella’s Co-Founder Believes Kanye West Dropping Out Of The Festival Was A ‘Good Decision For Him’

by
kanye west dl
Getty Image

Many people are still coming down from the high that was provided at this year’s Coachella festival. Performances by Doja Cat, The Weeknd, Harry Styles, Baby Keem, Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, and many more proved to be highlights by the end of the festival’s two weekends. With that being said, there was one name that did not take the stage at Coachella contrary to the expectations of many. That person was Kanye West as he was set to headline the festival’s third day on the respective weekends. However, he dropped out at the last second leaving the showcase to scramble for a replacement which ended up being The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia.

In a new interview with the LA Times, Coachella’s co-founder Paul Tollett spoke about Kanye’s last-second exit and how he felt about it. “I Zoomed with him a couple days prior, and I think it was a good decision for him,” he said. Luckily for Tollett and the rest of Coachella, The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia’s manager Wassim “Sal” Slaiby reached out to him to see what he needed for a replacement.

“Abel [Tesfaye] and Sal called and said, ‘What do you need?’” Tollett said. “I said, ‘I actually don’t know yet. Right now I’m a little stunned with Kanye leaving. I’ve got to think what to do here.’” Thankfully, the lineup change worked itself out in a couple of days as The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia stepped into the spot that Kanye West left open.

You can check out Tollett’s full interview with the LA Times here.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Kanye West’s King Crimson Sample On ‘Power’ Sparks A Lawsuit

by
kanye west chaney jones
Getty Image

Lawsuits over samples in music seem to be filed all the time. Usually, though, the reason for them tends to be related to the sampled work not being properly credited. However, that’s not the case with the latest lawsuit Kanye West faces, from Declan Colgan Music Ltd (DCM). The suit is regarding West’s sample of King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man” on his 2010 song “Power.”

Variety reports DCM (which owns the mechanical rights to the King Crimson song, is suing Universal Music Group (UMG) due to payment issues with West’s “Power.” The suit claims the label has been underpaying on streaming royalties. DCM is seeking all sums due along with interest.

After Ye sampled the song without a license, DCM and UMG came to an agreement, allowing West to sample the song in exchange for a 5.33-percent royalty on each copy of “Power” that was sold or “otherwise exploited.” Per the agreement, UMG had to pay a royalty on the same terms West receives royalties from the track.

The lawsuit claims UMG “has failed, and continues to fail, to comply with its royalty accounting obligations in respect of one mode of exploitation, namely the making available of the Power [r]ecording to consumers through so-called ‘streaming’ services.”

So, DCM argues UMG should be paying streaming royalties based on what the sums would be if those streams had instead been physical CD sales, per the royalty agreement. Instead, DCM alleges UMG has been paying a lower amount, being the percentage of what they actually receive per stream.