Idols winner Noma in copyright dispute – report

Sunday tabloid Sunday Sun has reported that recently crowned Idols SA winner Noma Khumalo’s album title track, Joy, is allegedly the work of another artist, who is not being credited.

The album was released on Monday.

Sunday Sun reports that Leconelle Music wrote to Gallo Records to protest that the song belongs to their artist, Disebo Mhlangu.

They claim she wrote the song in 2012, but that someone named Pablo “went behind her back to Samro and registered the song as his own”.

Mhlangu said that when she heard the song on iTunes she was “shocked”, as it allegedly featured her lyrics and melody, but Noma was credited.

She was quoted as saying: “I wouldn’t mind if an Idols winner does a cover version of my song, as long as I’m credited and paid royalties for it.”

Noma and Gallo could apparently not be reached for comment on the matter.