The Rolling Stones Sued for Copyright Infringement Over Latest Single ‘Living in a Ghost Town’
The Rolling Stones are being sued for copyright infringement over their latest single "Living in a Ghost Town," which they released in the spring of 2020.
Songwriter Sergio Garcia Fernandez, who goes by the moniker Angelslang, filed the lawsuit in Louisiana this past Friday (March 10), claiming that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards "misappropriated many of the recognizable and key protected elements” of his two songs "So Sorry" (2006) and "Seed of God" (2007) on The Stones' "Living in a Ghost Town" [via Classic Rock].
More specifically, Fernandez alleged that "Living in a Ghost Town" borrowed various elements from "So Sorry," including vocal melodies, chord progressions, drum and harmonica parts and more, and several other progressions and melodies from "Seed of God," according to the suit. Fernandez further claimed that he once gave a CD with his two songs on it to a member of Jagger's family, and that the vocalist had obtained possession of it.
“The immediate family member … confirmed receipt … to the plaintiff via e-mail, and expressed that the musical works of the plaintiff and its style was a sound The Rolling Stones would be interested in using,” Fernandez's attorneys wrote in the suit, as per Billboard. “Defendants never paid plaintiff, nor secured the authorization for the use of ‘So Sorry’ and ‘Seed of God.’"
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The Rolling Stones released "Living in a Ghost Town" in late April of 2020, amidst the global COVID-19 lockdown. It reached No. 3 on Billboard's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart several weeks later.
Listen to "Living in a Ghost Town" and Angelslang's "So Sorry" below.