VIDEO: Daniel Baron embattled in legal battle against David Guetta for copyright infringement

Striking similarities have been discovered between Daniel Baron’s 2016 hit single Children of the Sun and David Guetta’s new collaboration with Sia, Light Headed, which appears on the DJ’s latest album, 7. The album was released in September 2018 and subsequently peaked at number 37 on the Billboard 200 chart.

It has been claimed that Guetta’s song contains an identical melodic, chordal and rhythmic similarity to what has become Baron’s most successful single to date. In a video released on YouTube, the two tracks are played simultaneously and the alleged similarities are heard.

Baron confirmed that he is currently involved in a legal battle with the famous French DJ and that his legal team, led by Stephen Hollis, has made initial contact with Guetta regarding the copyright infringement. However, the musician confirms that there still hasn’t been a response from the DJ or his team.

Guetta’s local publisher, Geoff Paynter Music Publishing, confirmed that a letter of demand was sent to David Guetta last year.

“We confirm we received a letter of demand in December 2018 which was immediately forwarded to our sub-publisher principles. They confirmed that they, in turn, forwarded the correspondence to their publisher principles,” Geoff Paynter said in a statement.

After hearing Guetta’s track shortly following its release late last year, Baron appointed top South African musical professor Jean Zeidel-Rudolf to conduct a musicologist report which analysed the two tracks and has subsequently ruled that plagiarism was clear.

According to the report, the similarity can be heard in the main hook melody of Guetta’s song which appears seven times throughout the song. The notes and rhythmic positioning of the notes are of exact resemblance to the chorus melody of Baron’s song. Light Headed even shares the same root key signature of C-Major, identical to Baron’s Children of the Sun. This result prompted local royalty society SAMRO to freeze the royalty stream to the track until the matter has been dealt with.

Written, recorded and produced by Baron in 2016, Children of the Sun became a massive hit around South Africa reaching the number one spot on multiple radio stations, streaming charts around the country and was also one of Baron’s first songs to break onto the international music scene.

While Baron and his legal team are prepared for a court case, the local pop star said he simply wants to be credited as a songwriter on Guetta’s track.

“I was so shocked when I heard Guetta’s new song for the first time. It felt surreal to hear the tune that I came up with years ago. I’ve always been a fan of him and I look up to him as an artist/producer, so I actually feel rather bewildered and slightly proud that he’s used my melody. I am not the type of person that would want to start a fight with him. All I want is to be credited as a co-writer,” Baron said.

Daniel said that while it’s difficult for him to see one of his idols use his body of work without permission, it says a lot for the quality of South African music today.

“South African music is making the world sit up and listen. While it hurts seeing someone copy something you put your blood, sweat and tears into without making contact and sampling it legally, it’s incredible to see that massive international acts are inspired by local music – and that’s a real honour,” he said.

More updates will be made available once the case proceeds. Watch the comparison video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28spjKV5Szo&feature=youtu.be