A jury in Los Angeles found Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, and three of his companies liable for more than $400,000 for having played a sample of music for his fans without permission.
At a listening party in Atlanta in July 2021, Ye included music created by other artists in two songs, “Moon” and “Hurricane,” that he played for the 40,000 fans in attendance. The jury on Tuesday found that he had used that music, “MSD PT2,” without permission and that he had failed to compensate the artists for their work.
The party, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, was livestreamed by Apple Music and was one of several events promoting the release of Ye’s “Donda” album. “Hurricane” went on to win the Grammy Award for best melodic rap performance in 2022.
The jury found Ye, who testified at the trial, liable for $176,153 in damages, and his companies Yeezy LLC, Yeezy Supply and Mascotte Holdings liable for roughly $260,000 in damages.
Ye has been accused of copyright infringement before. In 2024, he reached a settlement with Donna Summer’s estate for sampling her song “I Feel Love” without permission. Around the same time, Ozzy Osbourne said on social media that Ye had inappropriately sampled a 1983 performance of the Black Sabbath song “Iron Man.”
“MSD PT2” was recorded by Sam Barsh, Dan Seeff, Josh Mease and Khalil Abdul-Rahman, who is known as DJ Khalil. The lawsuit involving the song was brought by Artist Revenue Advocates, a company created in 2024 to bring forward copyright cases on behalf of artists. The case was the company’s first.
Britton Monts, the manager and general counsel of Artist Revenue Advocates, said the artists would not have otherwise had the financial means to challenge Ye. Before the trial, the artists sold the copyright to “MSD PT2” to the company.
“A jury considered the evidence and found him guilty of copyright infringement,” Mr. Monts said. “I do think it is significant in that sense.”
In a statement, a spokesman for Ye called the verdict a “failed shakedown,” adding, “There is a cost attached to thinking you can take advantage of Ye.” The spokesman argued that the jury had found Ye and his three companies collectively liable for only $176,153.
The original complaint in the case, which was filed in 2024, focused on several revenue sources: royalties from “Moon” and “Hurricane”; profit from collaborations ahead of the release of “Donda,” including partnerships with Gap and Balenciaga; and sales of a music playback device, the Donda Stem Player, which came preloaded with the album’s songs.
A judge narrowed the scope of the case to focus on the music Ye had played at the Atlanta event, and not the versions of “Moon” and “Hurricane” included on “Donda,” which do not use the precise sample in question. Still, in expert testimony ahead of the trial, Joe Bennett, a professor of musicology at the Berklee College of Music, asserted that the final tracks included similarities to “MSD PT2” that “could not be ascribed to coincidence or commonplace elements.”
Last month, Ye released his latest album, “Bully,” and began a comeback tour after publicly apologizing for a series of antisemitic comments and actions. The tour started with sold-out shows at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles but faced challenges in Europe. Shows were canceled in Britain and Poland, and he postponed one in France after the government considered banning him from the country.
