Finally, we have whole-hearted, legitimate response from Will.i.am about stealing Arty & Mat Zo’s track, Rebound, for his new album. In an interview with the Associated Press, Will.i.am addresses the accusations that he stole Rebound for his track Let’s Go featuring Chris Brown. He admits that he used the track without full permission from “legal”:
That happens a bunch of times. Where legal takes so long but creative is instantaneous. And a lot of times, the community, for the sake of the art, bond with each other.
He also complains that not only did legal take too long but Arty didn’t tell him about Mat Zo. Or as Will.i.am calls him, “the other guy”:
What do I know? I give it to legal I’m not an attourney. I did my piece. I gave credit to the person who did it. It’s not my fault he didn’t tell me about the other guy. So who’s to blame? I didn’t know, I wasn’t in the room when you made it. You shoulda told me you had a collaborator.
Please Will.i.am, spare me your pleas for innocence. This is not a matter of legality, it is a matter of respect. Respect for the two producers that made the song that you simply added lyrics to. I am so sorry to hear that legal took so much longer than your “creative process”. If you truly cared for the music community you would contribute to it instead of taking from it.
But Will.i.am does bring up one good point; “So who’s to blame?”. He seems to feel that it is either his lawyers, or Arty’s fault that this whole thing blew up in his face. Meanwhile, he goes on to admit that he went ahead with the track without any authorization whatsoever from his legal team.
Just to jog your memory, this is the same person that said just a year ago stated “Dance music has taken off, because it’s the truth.” That is exactly what the music community needs now more than ever, the truth, so why don’t you give it to us?
Here is Arty and Mat Zo’s Reboud (skip to 1:00):
Will.i.am’s track Let’s Go:
What a load of shit he didn’t know about “the other guy”. He must have seen that it was by Arty & MAT ZO when he decided to steal it. He is just digging himself a bigger hole.
will needs to die or retire. seriously. he is nothing close to an “artist” he adds often nonsencical lyrics onto other peoples music. scream and shout and let it all out. what a load os shit.
Will you are & always have been a joke.
Will.I.Scam
He’s an arse.
I wish Boys Noize had sued Steve Aoki and Will.i.am years ago to stop them making awful music for this travesty:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAn44IN1iy4
Sadly, nobody is likely to ‘steal’ any of his tracks, because they’re all massively guff.
Sadly, nobody is likely to ‘steal’ any of his tracks, because they’re all massively guff.
‘Whole hearted, legitimate response’. Lol. More like an arrogant shoulder dust-off. What a disgrace to the music industry.
True. I can’t stand the guy.
lol… what a load.
I almost choked before his interview came on with that horrific collaboration with Britney Spears.
this comment deserves an award
well basto wrote that song and part of the lyrics..
Will’s response actually sounds legitimate but ignorance does not allow you to steal someone else’s work. If you want to release a track, you need to assurances from “Legal” that all bases are covered THEN release it. With will’s argument I could grab one of his tracks, change then name and release it on iTunes, give him ‘credit’ and just throw my hands up and say “Ohh.. my mate chris gave me this track, he said he’d sort it out with the artist. Don’t blame me, I have no idea who made it. My creative process is too quick for Chris to handle so screw that other guy.” Not good enough, so now deal with the repercussions.
personally, i dont think merely crediting another person’s work is sufficient in the commercial music industry. its all about the licensing agreements and royalties. will i am is not writing a uni paper. i hope they sue him for millions. my second hope is that i’m their legal advisor so i can get a cut 🙂
‘..legal takes so long but creative is instantaneous..’
what does he know about ‘creative’?
all the creative stuff in this song was made by Arty & Mat Zo.
We have to remember that it was released under Interscope; those are the people we should be asking the questions.
This guy is a fkn joke. How the fk do you even begin to process such a move without any permission? If music slapped him in the face in the form of a dick he would still have no idea wtf music is. I wish the whole world would just boycott this piece of shit.
Felix Osten I like Basto.
By far worst rebuttle ever. It did not help his situation whatsoever.
Also I feel they could just Sound Hound or Shazam the “instrumental” they receive to double check if it is another song or not.
Yeah his creative process is quick because it’s shit.
Everything he has said here annoys me for an impressive amount of reasons. What a piece of shit fucking cunt.
I was surprised when I found that out a few weeks ago Felix.
Steal.i.am
Wow- Mat Zo made a way classier statement than this for sure. Way to take responsibility for your actions.
Really? Wil.i.am IS the artist and the single person responsible for using material he signs as his own. He is RESPONSIBLE because he is declaring it HIS work. This is the part where EDM loses a great deal of credibility with me. Create your own work or receive permission and give credit. It is a ninth grade basic task at best.
hes junk and I cant stand to liten to him speak…all lies…
if you’re going to steal a song, at least know about it. the song’s called rebound by ARTY & MAT ZO. the entire electronic music community who knew that song, knew that it was a collaboration because they can read the f*cking SONG TITLE. it’s annoying that he tries to say he gave arty credit… didn’t do shit besides take their song, rap over it, and call it a title that gives absolutely zero reference or credit to the original track. quit passing off other people’s work like it’s your own, it’s called plagiarism and it only pisses people off.
this is one dumb-ass nigga.
Ok so say it’s like this. If Will is telling the truth then it’s his and Arty’s fault. Will’s for not having his legal team clear his track before you release it. You don’t DO that in the industry. Fuck the creative process. Make sure first and foremost your ass is protected. Cause now you’re getting sued. A&B (heads of Anjunabeats) are pissed as hell and have already said they’ll be pressing charges. Congrats Will.I.Am. Your “creative process” is going to get you sacked for a ton a money. Hell they may even make him pull the track off the album entirely or demand royalties.
Arty is somewhat to blame, too if this idea holds up because at the end of the day Anjunabeats holds full rights to Rebound, not him or Mat Zo. So it’s not his to give away anyways. We need a response from him because this is the 3rd time someone says he was credited in the release.
Ok so say it’s like this. If Will is telling the truth then it’s his and Arty’s fault. Will’s for not having his legal team clear his track before you release it. You don’t DO that in the industry. Fuck the creative process. Make sure first and foremost your ass is protected. Cause now you’re getting sued. A&B (heads of Anjunabeats) are pissed as hell and have already said they’ll be pressing charges. Congrats Will.I.Am. Your “creative process” is going to get you sacked for a ton a money. Hell they may even make him pull the track off the album entirely or demand royalties.
Arty is somewhat to blame, too if this idea holds up because at the end of the day Anjunabeats holds full rights to Rebound, not him or Mat Zo. So it’s not his to give away anyways. We need a response from him because this is the 3rd time someone says he was credited in the release.
Um……Mat Zo said in his statement that Will.I.Am APPROACHED MAT ZO ABOUT COLLABORATING BEFORE THIS HAPPENED! SO Will.I.Am is full of shit when he said he didn’t know who Mat Zo or “the other guy” was.
Maybe all these EDM assholes could pick up actual instruments and learn some fucking music theory so they don’t need to blatantly rip-off other crappy EDM assholes all the time. We’ve come a long way from Tangerine Dream, and sadly most of the new stuff is cookie-cutter, generic garbage.
Biggest problem in music today is people learning how to “MASTER” their track before knowing how to compose anything worthy of being fucking “MASTERED.” Bunch of fucking noobs that have never even heard of the MOOG. And these are the assholes taking money away from hard-working musicians and producers who aren’t just trying to make “TRAP” music to fit in with the rest of the unoriginal dickheads who don’t deserve to be in the same state as Ozric Tentacles.
MK Ultra 2.0: Benzodiazepines and EDM.
The fact that his response / body language are so defensive further proves that he knew he fucked up.
Pretty sad that someone so high up in the music industry can get away with this.
he probably doesn’t even know the song judging by how awful his version sounded.
You didn’t know Mat Zo produced it as well?
Sounds Legit!
I mean, it only says his friggen name RIGHT NEXT TO ARTY’S!
Deniz Koyu – Tung (Original) —-> http://youtu.be/2LBX3h3uzbU.
FAKE —> http://youtu.be/GwTyMF4k2U0.
Sandro & Quintino – Epic (Original) –>http://youtu.be/irfSOiH1_Ns.
FAKE —> http://youtu.be/VHGeLhi0VOg.
Arty & Mat Zo – Rebound (Original) -> http://youtu.be/DXQhVmnNmxk.
FAKE —> http://youtu.be/lV6W6_PUj0E.
Arty – Kate (Original) -> http://youtu.be/NUkT2LrcGyc.
FAKE —> http://youtu.be/vHBBBJ0RWRI.
“It’s not my fault he (Arty) didn’t tell me about the other guy” and “you should have told me you had a collaborator”. Come on Will.I.Am, why are you palming the blame on to others? You’ve been working in the music industry for 12 years now, so don’t try to come across as being naive. I fail to believe that you are that stupid that you don’t know what plagiarism is. It’s your album, so YOU should be the main person responsible for it. Also I couldn’t help but notice that you refer to yourself as being a ‘creator who produces work spontaneously’. Funny that, seeing as Arty and Mat Zo produced rebound 2 years ago. So it’s taken you 2 years to copy and paste together some background music pre-produced already by someone else, before adding your own lyrics. Not only that, but the lyrics are awful as well. ‘Unintouchable’ isn’t even a word, and the same expression ‘what you’re waiting for’ gets repeated 30 times in the same song. Therefore over 28% of the song’s lyrics are simply the same line ‘let’s go’ being repeated over and over again. Talk about being original……….
How the fuck can you be in the music industry for as long as Will.I.Am and not foresee any potential consequences for taking a risk like that? Narcissism truly does fuel ignorance.
I am scared to read this but here goes nothing
Will.I.Am is actually lying in this interview. If you followed Mat Zo’s response closely soon after Let Go was put on youtube, he says that Will.I.Am approached him regarding this track but he turned down the opportunity. Yet, Will.I.Am pursued to use the track and not seek clearance from Anjuna. Given his past record of stealing other people’s music, you would be a fool to believe what he says in this interview. Surely after being sued in the past and getting into trouble with other records companies he would have learnt his lesson by now. Evidently not. This time round, lawyers need to make sure he does learn his lesson though.
what a phony
he basically hiding behind an email he sent mat zo and claiming that the email is clearance. lowest.
I’d say there are some EDM artists that have great knowledge of usual theory and can actually create masterpieces. The sad thing is, there aren’t very many.
Thief.I.Am
Nobody cares, will.i.am just needs to write a big fat check.
TNGHT licensed one of their songs to Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj for monies. Odd.
http://doandroidsdance.com/audio/tnghts-easy-easy-licensed-for-lil-waynes-i-am-not-a-human-being-2-album/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ljk8IJl-OA
Mind you ‘Easy Easy’ is a pretty weak song by HudHo’s standard.
haha lets go is art? lol putting vocal over some else song isn’t art. what a nob =).
who gives a crap ass abt arty or the other guy (mat) get a life u both..
Repeat offender? Yep.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbJ5kHfIhC4
The BEP’s are one of the most boring bands of all time.
The BEP’s are one of the most boring bands of all time.