Luis Fonsi Celebrates 8 Billion Views For ‘Despacito’, Amid Steely & Clevie Copyright Lawsuit
Reggaeton singer Luis Fonsi, on Tuesday, celebrated eight billion views on his hit song Despacito, the most-viewed music video on YouTube, which is currently the subject of a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against him by Jamaican Reggae/Dancehall label Steely & Clevie Productions.
The Puerto Rican singer hailed his label Universal, and a slew of his South American compatriots, as among those who contributed to the song’s success.
“Who knew that the tune on my guitar that morning in my house would be heard in so many places, by so many people. Almost 6 years and I still can’t believe it!. The word THANK YOU stays small! 8 billion, how nice does that sound 🌎🙌🏼,” he wrote on his Instagram page.
“Impossible to do it alone, impossible to name them all but here I go… Thank you Daddy Yankee, you are great! Erika, Andrés, Mauricio, Carlos Perez, Zuleyka, Danny, Tony, Universal, Rondi. Thank you Justin Bieber for joining this wonderful journey. Thank you Puerto Rico and my beautiful people from La Perla who received us with so much love that day, I will never forget it. ❤️,” he added.
The closest competitor to Despacito is Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You which has raked in 5.8 billion views.
Despacito, came under scrutiny earlier this year after it was revealed that Steely & Clevie Productions filed a copyright infringement lawsuit alleging that several songs recorded by Reggaeton singer Luis Fonsi infringed on their intellectual property rights.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in a California Central District court in October last year and resubmitted in March this year, Fonsi, whose given name is Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero, recorded several songs, including Despacito, which contain original elements from Steely and Clevie’s Fish Market riddim.
Also, in addition to Despacitio which features Daddy Yankee, seven of Fonsi’s other songs are also listed as having allegedly infringed on the Fish Market riddim, namely Bésame, Calypso, Date La Vuelta, Échame La Culpa, Imposible, Perfecta, Sola, and Vacio.
Released in 1989, Fish Market, also known as Poco Man Jam, is known internationally as Dem Bow after Shabba Ranks’ hit track.
The riddim also featured songs such as the title track Poco Man Jam by Gregory Peck; Father Crab by Johnny P, Tie me Down by Flourgon, Trailer Load of Girls by Shabba Ranks, and Dem fi Dead by Papa San, as well as Proceed Gal by Mega Banton, Gal yuh look Good by Admiral Bailey, Bad Mind by Red Dragon, and Stamina Body by Mega Banton.
Despacito’s original version, in addition to being the most viewed music video on YouTube, is certified Diamond 13X by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales exceeding 13 million units in the US as of 2020.
The song had also topped the charts in 47 countries when it was released in 2017. Ranked as one of the most successful Spanish-language tracks in history, it was the first Spanish song since the Macarena to top the Billboard Hot 100.
The remix with Justin Bieber also reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and remained at the top of that chart for 16 consecutive weeks.
Along with Fonsi, those featured among the defendants, are his label Universal Music Publishing, Warner Music, Universal Music Latin Entertainment, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and others.
Clevie, whose given name is Cleveland Browne and the estate of the late Steely, are being represented by the Law firm Doniger/Burroughs. Steely, whose birth name was Wycliffe Johnson, died in 2009 in New York at age 47.
Fonsi and his associates are being represented by Pryor Cashman LLP, according to court documents obtained by DancehallMag.
In mid-March this year the attorneys had responded to the lawsuit, pleading that they “have not engaged in any type of infringement,” that “there is no actionable similarity between the works at issue,” and by and large that they “deny knowledge or information sufficient to respond” to the majority of the allegations.
The Pryor Cashman legal team also denied most of the allegations “and aver that no response is required to the extent that the paragraph purports to state any conclusions of law”.
They also argued that “allegedly copied portions of the works at issue are neither original nor a protectable expression of an idea”; any allegedly copied portions of the works at issue lie in the public domain.
In its description of the Fish Market beat, the Jamaicans’ lawsuit states among, other things, that the riddim “is an original work including an original drum pattern that gives it a unique sound that differentiates it from prior works” and includes the combination of instruments including a programmed kick, snare, and hi hat, playing a one bar pattern, as well as a tambourine playing through the entire bar”.
The claimants have also provided transcripts of the instrumentals of Fish Market and Fonsi’s songs, which pointed out that the rhythm section of Despacito, Despacito Remix with Justin Bieber, and the other songs, copy original elements of the Fish Market rhythm section, including its original combination of drum and bass patterns, and avow that “the musical backbone of Despacito and the Despacito Remix are substantially similar if not virtually identical to a significant portion of Fish Market”.
The lawsuit by the Jamaicans also outlined the trajectory which led to the use of the Fish Market riddim by Reggaeton artists, noting that “in 1990, subsequent to the release and success of Shabba Ranks’ Dem Bow, Denis Halliburton aka “Dennis the Menace” had replayed Dem Bow’s instrumental to create a sound recording of an instrumental that was used to record a Spanish Language cover version of Dem Bow entitled Ellos Benia.
It said that another song titled Pounder by the duo Patrick Bernard aka Bobo General” and Wayne Archer aka “Sleepy Wonder”, had a “B Side” to which featured an instrumental mix of Halliburton’s sound recording, and that “this instrumental has been sampled widely in Reggaeton and is commonly known and referred to as the Pounder riddim which “is substantially similar if not virtually identical to Fish Market”.