Rapper Outrage: GTA V Stole My Beats, Cease And Desist

[Karloff]

Rapper Outrage: GTA V Stole My Beats, Cease And Desist


Rockstar didn't offer me enough, says Daz Dillinger.

Daz Dillinger of the Dogg Pound claims Rockstar stole his music and used it in Grand Theft Auto V without his permission. The artist says Rockstar had tried to buy the rights, but offered an "offensively low" sum of $4,271 for C-Walk and Nothin' But the Cavi Hit. Dillinger refused, but Rockstar went ahead and included the songs in its game anyway, and now Dillinger's demanding that Rockstar make him a better offer, or recall and destroy all unsold copies of the game.

It's very unlikely Rockstar's going to do that, not with its bestselling Grand Theft Auto [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escapist-news-now/8129-GTA-5-Highest-1st-Day-Game-Sales-Ever] title. But Dillinger's adamant; it's about respecting an artist's work. "Rockstar didn't do that here and I can't let them get away with it," he says. A cease and desist letter has been sent to Rockstar; Dillinger and his attorneys are giving Rockstar two weeks to come up with a deal, or else.

Dillinger's occasionally stormy tenure with Death Row, where he was in-house producer and worked with 2Pac, ended in 1998. He enjoyed a brief solo career before reuniting with Kurupt and forming the Dogg Pound, which is currently working on two new albums.

Source: TMZ [http://www.tmz.com/2013/10/11/grand-theft-auto-v-daz-dillinger-cease-and-desist-letter/]


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[Antitonic]

Couldn't they just patch it out if need be? It'd be like a sort of corporate gaslighting.

"Our client claims you stole his music. Is this true?"
"Well, I don't see it here anywhere, do you?"
"YOU DID IT, I SWEAR YOU DID! SOMEONE PLEASE BELIEVE ME!"

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

If this is true then I'm on his side. Everybody wants to steal from the musicians these days. That's not right.

 

[spwatkins]

Ah, such sweet irony when the sampler gets sampled.

 

[mad825]

it's about respecting an artist's work.

He's not going to start with a shred of dignity.

Ultimately, what his record labels saying? It could've been a simple miscommunication where they authorised it without his permission and quite frankly there's nothing much he can do to my knowledge expect for going to a different one.

 

[Andy Shandy]

More like Grand Theft Audio, am I right, guys?

But yeah, if what this guy is saying is true, it's a real shitty thing for Rockstar to do. Especially for a game that made them a billion dollars in three days. So it's not like they are struggling for cash.

 

[Karadalis]

Couldn't they just patch it out if need be? It'd be like a sort of corporate gaslighting.

"Our client claims you stole his music. Is this true?"
"Well, I don't see it here anywhere, do you?"
"YOU DID IT, I SWEAR YOU DID! SOMEONE PLEASE BELIEVE ME!"

Wouldnt work since the data is still on the disc. So technically its still "stolen" and accesible if you know how to.

 

[Church185]

Because Rockstar is terrible at licensing music...

Honestly, if Rockstar couldn't negotiate with this artist I don't think that not having these two songs not on the soundtrack would have hurt them. This really just stinks of clamoring for the piles of money that the game made. I'm sure it will come out in court that a deal had been made and now the artist is trying to renegotiate.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

If it's any consolation, Mr. Dillinger, I have been conditioned to switch the in-game radio off whenever the radio is set to a rap station (apparently 75% of the total stations) so that my ears might not be assaulted by your particular brand of... hmm, "music."

So it's quite likely I never even heard your tracks and never will.

That said, I don't condone Rockstar's actions if this turns out to be true.

 

[Warlokk]

More than likely this guy has no legal ownership of the songs, R* probably got the license from the record label that does. If that's the case, this guy has no leg to stand on, and is just crying for cash. I'm sure it'll all come out eventually, but this looks like an attention grab.

 

[Glaice]

I'm not so sure why he would be complaining about this, most rap music sounds the same with the same samples, the same beats and usually the same lyrical themes as well but again if this is true this can easily be settled out of court due to the demanding amount being asked for.

 

[CriticalMiss]

Ooo, I'll be waiting for updates on this story. After all 'piracy is wrong and pirates should feel bad for not supporting artists!' say the game publishers, and using people's music in your commercial product without permission isn't very nice either. I get the feeling that someone isn't telling the whole story though and that this is a misunderstanding or someone is trying to cash in on the GTAV money train.

I kind of want it to be true though, just to see how Rockstar would justify it.

 

[lacktheknack]

Couldn't they just patch it out if need be? It'd be like a sort of corporate gaslighting.

"Our client claims you stole his music. Is this true?"
"Well, I don't see it here anywhere, do you?"
"YOU DID IT, I SWEAR YOU DID! SOMEONE PLEASE BELIEVE ME!"

This.

The guy seems to think he has them over a barrel with "Pay me good cash, or destroy all unsold copies". He doesn't. If push comes to shove, he's only going to destroy all his free publicity.

I'm not saying that Rockstar is in the right, but sometimes, you have to work with what you have. This guy isn't doing that.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Until Rockstar makes an official statement (and even more so until a court case is dealt with, provided it even gets to that point), it's really hard to go either way here. On the one hand, it wouldn't surprise me if a song or two in GTAV aren't there ilegally, but on the other hand, this just reeks of an attention grab and/or someone who got pissed off that he accepted an "offensively low" amount and didn't realize the potential of what he could have made and now he's on a hissy fit.

 

[GoaThief]

Ah, such sweet irony when the sampler gets sampled.

Not the same thing at all though.

Until Rockstar comment or lawyers speak for them it would be unwise to outright condemn them off the bat. That said, if it's true then they deserve a lot of heat. Sad there's so much negativity expressed towards an artist here just because he creates in a different genre than their favoured kind.

 

[FiatCelebrity]

This track is dope. I hope this guy's full of shit, but I would be disappointed in Rockstar if he wasn't. The hip-hop soundtrack is an integral part of the atmosphere in this game, and considering how much money they made, it wouldn't be right to cut him out. It's hard to find truly good hip-hop artists, so it hurts to see one get screwed.

 

[Cecilo]

I love this, I really do. Rockstar doesn't like PC because of Pirates. Uses music without paying for it in their game. Love it.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

I turn the radio off whenever I get in a vehicle because I think GTA V has the weakest soundtrack on a GTA game to date. Also I have no idea who this guy is, nor do I even like rap, so I don't really care.