Damn... Des'Ree wasn't playing


Three weeks after celebrating her second B'Day, Beyoncé is pulling the plug — at least for now — on the re-release of her recent solo LP. Thanks to a pending lawsuit over her cover of Des'ree's "I'm Kissing You" on her B'Day - Deluxe Edition album and video anthology, the singer and her label have agreed to stop distributing the albums and DVDs that include the song.

When Beyoncé sat down earlier this year with MTV News to discuss the new material featured on B'Day - Deluxe Edition, she mentioned that her version of the song — which is called "Still in Love (Kissing You)" on the reissue — wasn't originally intended for release and that she had just recorded it because she "always loved it."

"It was one of my all-time favorite songs," she said (see "Beyonce: Behind The B'Day Videos"). "It gives you this emotion — I don't care who you are, you just feel it. So I just did it for myself — a lot of songs, I do like that — and I let people hear it and they were like, 'You are crazy, you have to put it on the album.' So I did. It was a last-minute decision."

Indeed, Beyoncé's team's paperwork — included in the copyright-infringement suit filed in New York's Manhattan Federal Court last week — depicts a rush to get permission to use the song, with letters sent back and forth up to and including the day of the deluxe edition's release. According to the suit, Beyoncé's team originally sought clearance on February 13 to use "interpolations" of the Des'ree song, which became a hit when it appeared in the Leonardo DiCaprio/ Claire Danes movie "Romeo + Juliet" in 1996. Lawyers for the two sides (Beyoncé and Des'ree's publishers the Royalty Network) started talking, and by March 3 — a month before Beyoncé re-released her album — Beyoncé's side had a "confirmation letter and license request" ready to submit.

On March 5, the Royalty Network's lawyers answered by submitting a counter proposal in which they granted permission — within certain limits. For one thing, they would allow use of the song, but not in video form. They would also allow use of the song only if the title were not changed. The Royalty Network's lawyers at Epstein Levinsohn Bodine & Weinstein said in the complaint that "despite follow-ups," they didn't hear back from Beyoncé's camp. And on March 27, according to the complaint, they discovered that Beyoncé and her record label planned to proceed with their plans to include the song on the re-release anyway. In a letter they wrote to Beyoncé's lawyer and her distribution group Sony, the Royalty Network called the move "completely unacceptable."

"First, no agreement has been reached in connection with [the song]," the letter read, "and Sony has no right to proceed ... absent an agreement. Second, the retitling of the composition puts TRN at risk for claims from more than one third party, and this is a risk that [Beyoncé] and Sony were or should have been aware of in light of the circumstances surrounding the discussions relating to this potential license."

The Royalty Network then asked Sony to cease and desist from distributing the album with the song under a new title, and when Beyoncé and her label did so anyway on April 3, the Royalty Network deemed that "willful disregard." So a new letter was sent that day, saying the offer to allow Beyoncé to include the song on her album was withdrawn.

Then there was the matter of the Cliff Watts-directed video of "Still in Love (Kissing You)" on Beyoncé's "B'Day Anthology Video Album," which was sold separately at Wal-Mart. The video, which was shot on the beach in Miami, "feels like something you shouldn't be seeing," Beyoncé told MTV News — meaning that it seemed like a home video because it was so "raw" and "natural." But the Royalty Network felt like it was something that shouldn't be seen for a different reason — because they hadn't granted audiovisual rights even when they were leaning toward letting Beyoncé use the song. In a letter sent April 6, the Royalty Network called it a "blatant violation of the terms" they had set forth.

After filing the suit on April 16, the Royalty Network — which seeks $150,000 in damages and an injunction to recall the deluxe edition from stores — came to an agreement with Beyoncé's camp, filed Friday with the court, that Columbia and Sony would "engage in no further distribution" of the album or video anthology with the song in question, at least until a preliminary injunction hearing May 4.

Beyoncé's representatives had not responded to requests for comment by press time.

Im curious if stores will have the old version of the album. The reason im saying this is that when an artist comes out with a Deluxe edition or Re-release the label deletes the old one, and then recalls it from the stores. Back when i at Sam Goody, this always happend within the month of a reissue, example would be, Mariahs "emancipation of Mimi" when the version came out with "Dont forget about us" the label sent an emergency return out to all the stores to pull the original version of the floor and send it back to the label. Im guessing might have happend with BDAY the original version, so Sony might have to send those copies right back.

Mmph. Just a big ole' mess.

lastdecember said:

Your right... they did the same thing when i worked for HMV
[Edited 4/25/07 9:55am]

didn't somebody post on that other thread how the album wouldn't get pulled?

egg meet face.

My only question is why only ask for 150,000 in damages? I agree getting the record pulled is probably what they want most of all, BUT, at least 200,000 of the cd have sold in the US so far, im not sure how many of the DVD have but even if its 50,000 and who knows about the overseas sales, since the song is on certain versions over there. I know its "not about money" but in this case you are entitled to it legally, why not ask for more?

that cover was really bad, anyway. too bad it's THAT track that got the whole thing pulled. i love Beyonce, and i enjoyed the album immensely. but that cover was ill-advised. really ruins the song for me.

Damn! So I could have bought this and sold it for a profit on Ebay!

lastdecember said:

Have many versions did "Emancipation of Mimi" have???

hahahaha

pa knowles must be pissed

VinnyM27 said:

I'm sure no store is acting that quickly.

CinisterCee said:

Really? I remember when there was like a boob or something in a Disney movie (a painting of a naked woman in a cartoon...hardly a boob) and they pulled it right off the shelf!

The European version does not include Kissing you...

That little hussy is not stupid.. annouce that she's pulling the CD and DVD and watch people run out to buy it before they are gone for good

NIIIIICE!!!

VinnyM27 said:

Are you talking about The Little Mermaid?

Moonbeam said:

Thats what happens when u disreguard the law and think u are better than everyone else and can break the rules

karma is a bitch aint it Yonka
[Edited 4/25/07 15:26pm]

Des'ree was lucky to win the Janet Jackson case; the descending melody similarity between her track and JJ's isn't unusual (there are many songs that have this). She must be able to afford shit-hot lawyers...why can't Timbaland have his ass sued off now?

Mong said:

ahhh, can't go 1 post without mentioning Timbaland these days, Mong

Mong said:

What song was that (the Janet track)?

CalhounSq said:

"Got 'Til It's Gone"

Mong said:

Isn't that song sampled from a Joni Mitchell song?

CinisterCee said:

No but it might have happened in there, too. I'm pretty sure it was "The Rescuers".

ego crusher...

lolololol Tooooo BAD-BEYONCE

a prime example of why Be-yawnnnn ce should sit her ass down somewhere.

If I see one in stores, I'll pick it up, and try to sell it in 30 years. Oh wait, I doubt anyone will care by then.

UCantHavaDaMango said:

no one will care about Yonka in 10 years

she wants to stay in the publics interest that's why she's releasing singles and videos and movies left and right

people are sick of her shit already, but i guess she hasnt gotten the hint yet
[Edited 4/25/07 19:44pm]