UK Independent Issues High Court Proceedings against Major Label
 

2Point9 Records, the London based independent label founded by Billy Grant and Rob Stuart in 2000, has issued court proceedings against Ministry of Sound Recordings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, for copyright infringement.

Filed in the UK High Court, 2Point9’s claim concerns its recording, “Ride It” first released in 2008 featuring Jay Sean. 

2Point9 assert that Ministry of Sound Recordings released a remixed version of the track by Dardan Aliu aka DJ Regard, which substantially sampled their original track, despite Ministry of Sound Recordings being on notice that the remix featured a sample from their track and that it had not been cleared. 

The DJ Regard remix was first posted on TikTok in 2019 and became a viral hit. Ministry of Sound Recordings, whose MD at the time, Dipesh Parmar, is now President of Sony label Columbia Records UK, picked up the track and released it in July 2019. 

2Point9 allege that Ministry of Sound Recordings knew in June 2019 that DJ Regard’s remix used their recording, that it was willing to discuss terms for the use of its master recording but that Ministry of Sound Recordings chose not to enter into any meaningful commercial discussions, electing instead to proceed with its release.

Over the summer of 2019, the DJ Regard track achieved global success, gaining traction across other social media platforms, peaking at #2 on the UK singles chart and #3 on the US Billboard Top 100 Hot Dance/Electronic chart. The track has since gone onto to achieve over one billion streams on Spotify and more than half a billion YouTube views. 

When challenged by 2Point9, Ministry of Sound Recordings first claimed that it had re-recorded the sample, but it later admitted its release still featured the 2Point9 recording. Ministry of Sound Recordings did then re-record the sample but only months after the first release, by which time the track had become a commercial success. 

The parties have since been unable to find a commercial solution leaving 2Point9 with no recourse other than the High Court.

Billy Grant, co-founder of 2Point9 Records said, “We have been fighting our corner on this matter for five years now and won’t stop until we get justice. Throughout the entire time we have been pursuing this claim, Ministry of Sound Recordings has treated our label with arrogance and dismissiveness, and the irony is not lost on us that before its acquisition by Sony Music Entertainment, Ministry of Sound Recordings was an independent label itself. Why they think that this kind of behaviour against a small label is acceptable is bewildering. However, we are determined to make them realise that it is not OK to ride roughshod over the commercial rights of those in the independent sector and that there are consequences for doing so. Commencing legal action is the next step in that process”.