Quavo has been sued for song-theft by another rapper called L.Mont over his 2018 track ‘Bubblegum’. The former Migos member, real name Quavious Marshall, is accused of copyright infringement, as are his record label and music publisher, Universal Music and Warner Chappell respectively.
L.Mont, real name Lamount London, says he gave Marshall a CD that contained a 2015 track he had released, also called ‘Bubblegum’, after performing the opening set at a 2 Chainz and Migos show in 2016.
Marshall then, “without express authorisation”, copied “protected elements” of the earlier ‘Bubblegum’ track “in his sound recording of the same name”. Or so alleges a new lawsuit filed with the courts in California.
Because of that copying, claims the lawsuit, if you put ‘Bubblegum’ next to ‘Bubblegum’, “a layperson could hear similarities in the lyrics, arrangement, melody, core expression, content and other compositional elements in both songs and conclude that the songs are essentially identical”.
In song-theft cases like this, the artist filing the lawsuit needs to explain how the other artist got access to their earlier work, and then demonstrate that the newer song is sufficiently similar to the earlier song to constitute copyright infringement.
London’s explanation for how Marshall got to hear the earlier ‘Bubblegum’ before writing his track is pretty solid. He claims that, after supporting Migos at the 2016 show, he attended an after party with the group. That’s where he gave Marshall a CD of his music in the hope that the two musicians might be able to collaborate in the future.
As for the similarities between the two ‘Bubblegum’ tracks, they do both include lyrics about bubblegum being popped. Although the claim that – when put side by side – the two tracks are “essentially identical” seems something of a stretch. But, unperturbed, London’s lawsuit insists that Marshall “clearly used” the original ‘Bubblegum’ as “a basis for the infringing ‘Bubblegum’”
“Both songs have similar tempos and form structure”, the lawsuit continues, adding that, “recording and compositional analysis of the two works reveal that the infringing ‘Bubblegum’ copies the lyrics and vocal melodies from the plaintiff’s ‘Bubblegum’”.
London wants the court to issue an injunction ordering Marshall to stop infringing his copyrights and to award him lots of damages.