Columbian singer, songwriter and reggaeton star Karol G has been sued by a producer from El Salvador who claims that her 2022 track ‘Gatúbela’ used a beat he created without permission. In his lawsuit the producer, who releases music as Alfr3d Beats, insists that, “by every method of analysis ‘Gatúbela’ is a forgery”, created using a beat he posted on YouTube before the Karol G record was released.
He does concede that “only a little over six weeks elapsed” between him posting his beat and an Instagram post by ‘Gatúbela’ producer DJ Maff previewing the Karol G track. However, he says, it’s still “likely that one or more of defendants – most likely starting with DJ Maff – accessed and listened to the [beat] before beginning to write, record and/or produce – or, at least, before finishing – ‘Gatúbela’”.
Exchanges between Alfr3d and DJ Maff on Instagram are a key part of the copyright claim. Alfr3d says that when DJ Maff posted the ‘Gatúbela’ preview to Instagram in August 2022, the post also tagged Karol G with a follow-on statement reading, “grateful to you” and “you smashed it”.
Below the post Alfr3d wrote “smashing it with other people’s melodies”, to which DJ Maff responded, “don’t tell anybody”. Three days later DJ Maff deleted that exchange.
Alfr3d subsequently direct messaged DJ Maff on Instagram with a single word, “saludos”, which translates as “greetings”. In response, DJ Maff wrote, “my respects, keep in mind that music is the same forever, the same circles that combine in different variations etc, coincidences can happen, I’ll make it clear to you that I made mine more than nine months ago”.
DJ Maff was presumably aware that Alfr3d believed he had ripped off his beat because of the earlier Instagram exchange. However, says Alfr3d’s lawsuit, “DJ Maff’s defensive response to Alfr3d’s simple salutation makes it apparent that DJ Maff knew Alfr3d had created the [beat] and believed ‘Gatúbela’ was copied from the work”.
Elsewhere the lawsuit explains that, when Alfr3d uploaded his beat to YouTube, he described it as a “Carol G x Feid type beat”. He also believes that DJ Maff was subscribed to his YouTube channel, and that he saw the beat as soon as it was posted and then quickly shared it with Karol G as work on ‘Gatúbela’ got underway.
Alfr3d then proposes a timeline that would allow the track, which also featured the rapper Maldy, to be created and recorded in the six weeks after he posted his beat.
The legal claim doesn’t just rely on the Instagram back and forth, also citing an expert musicologist who claims that the similarities between Alfr3d’s beat and ‘Gatúbela’ are at a level “we almost never see”.
The musicologist confidently adds, “both the main synthesiser riff and vocal chorus melody of ‘Gatúbela’ are extremely similar to the synth melody of the [beat]; such similarities would not have occurred by chance alone; and such similarities cannot be explained away by prior art”.
Alfr3d’s copyright infringement lawsuit names Karol G and her label Universal Music, as well as DJ Maff, Maldy and other collaborators on ‘Gatúbela’, as defendants.