SA musician claims hit single plagiarised

SA musician Daniel Baron is taking on international dance music superstar David Guetta with claims he plagiarised Baron’s 2016 hit single, Children of the Sun, says a Sunday Times report. Baron, who is signed to Universal Music, claims Guetta’s track, Light Headed, featuring Australian singer Sia and released in September 2018, has a ‘near-identical’ melody to Children of the Sun. Through law firm Adams & Adams, Baron served a letter of demand to Guetta’s management, demanding that the French DJ credit him for his work and share half of his profits. Adding clout to his fight is a report by renowned music expert Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, who found a possible case of copyright infringement. The South African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) has also frozen all royalties owed to Guetta for the song in SA. Baron reportedly told the Sunday Times he had immediately recognised his melody on Guetta’s track. Baron’s attorney, Stephen Hollis, confirmed a letter of demand was sent on 7 December 2018 on behalf of Baron to Guetta’s management. He said there had been no response to date.