UPDATE 2: Will.i.am admits to stealing from Mat Zo and Arty
UPDATE: Mat Zo responds to the allegations and his reason behind leaving Twitter. Scroll to the bottom of the post to read his comment. 
Earlier today VEVO uploaded the audio track from an up and coming album by Will.i.am featuring Chris Brown. Recent buzz on social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook has led to believe that Will’s track “Let’s go” is a blatant copy of the trance hit Rebound by Arty and Mat Zo. The latter artist, Mat Zo, recently deleted his twitter account as well his own personal website in what some claim that he said, “It was the best decision in his life”.
However, the real issue is did Will.i.am actually rip off of “Rebound“? Arty on twitter seems to think so.
LOL what? @mat_zo youtube.com/watch?feature=…!
— Arty (@arty_music) April 16, 2013
@dj_eco @juventamusic it’s not, Anjuna is only one who has rights for track, they didn’t license it, and these guys didn’t come to them
— Arty (@arty_music) April 16, 2013
Now I see why Mat left twitter, cause he couldn’t handle shit like this
— Arty (@arty_music) April 16, 2013
They never cleared rights through Anjunabeats, who’s only one label, who ownes the rights for “Rebound”.
— Arty (@arty_music) April 16, 2013
But we’d like to know what you think, did Will steal “Rebound” or is it just coincidence…
Despite almost having the same chords and progression, the tracks do have their differences. None of which couldn’t have been produced inside of a studio.
and here is Rebound… despite their differences for a musician like Arty to say that it’s a “sample from a master file” is something to definitely consider.
Update: The track Big Bang also uploaded today has, note for note the same progression as Sandro Silva and Quitino’s Epic around 2:15, also Big Bang is eerily similar to Mike Candys’ remix of The Night You Murdered Love at 3:10.
Big Bang.
Sandro Silva and Quintino at :45
Mike Candys at 3:10
UPDATE: Chris Brown has chimed in attempting to clear his name with this tweet:
I don’t even know who mat zo Or arty is? I ain’t got shit to do wit if ur mad or not. Someone asked for a feature on a record and I did it.
— Chris Brown(@chrisbrown) April 16, 2013
UPDATE 2: Mat Zo’s response to the whole ordeal:
(Im really glad I deleted my twitter account so that I’m not inclined to say what I’m about to say in under 140 characters)
I really and truely appreciate all the support you are giving me and Arty in response to Will I Am’s copyright infringement. However, this doesnt excuse the horrific abuse youre sending the way of Will I Am and Chris Brown, and it especially doesnt excuse being racist.
You dont need to defend me or Arty. Producers often wait their whole careers for a commercial act to fuck up and sample their track without asking permission. Arty and I are not bitter about this, more suprised. We knew Will I Am was interested in this track, but we declined working with him at the time.
To conclude, perhaps it is better to invest your energy into supporting ‘Rebound’ instead of spewing shit at Will I Am and Chris Brown. The reason I left twitter was to aleviate myself from outbreak the verbal diarrhea which I had caught and which im seeing all over the internet today.
Thank you 🙂
Bang bang samples this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kankYiIT6HI&feature=youtu.be.. way more similar than EPIC.
#will.i.steal
AHAH awesome, it’s like the same song omg xD
#steal.i.will
Never thought Will.I.Am would sink this low after BEP :'(.
SOMEONE IS IN TROUBLE NOW.
I have heard both and just thought maybe they had rights to use it. I never though will.i.am was original. If he was smart he just get the rights to sample these massive rave tracks. You might want to learn for Puff Daddy and sample correctly. As far as Chris Brown, he is general had nothing to do with this drama. But my question is how do you not know two of the biggest dance Artist in the world. You make dance pop, you should be know what is out there. DJ or Singer music is music.
this is not the first time that fucker has done some shit like this…fuck dude!
He’s a complete joke of a “musician” anyway. Maybe this will be his downfall and he will disappear from the music scene entirely. *fingers crossed*
well to be fair, i wouldnt call DJs musicians either. But Will i am sucks real hard.
I’d consider the producers (Mat Zo and Arty in this case) musicians, because you still need an extensive knowledge of music to produce on their level. Most of them are pretty solid on piano at least. Just because it’s computer based production doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not musicians. Just my thought.
I’d consider the producers (Mat Zo and Arty in this case) musicians, because you still need an extensive knowledge of music to produce on their level. Most of them are pretty solid on piano at least. Just because it’s computer based production doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not musicians. Just my thought.
oh lawd.
oh lawd.
As an EDM producer myself, I can tell you this is a blatant rip of the master render of ‘Rebound’. The producer responsible for this added a sample to coincide with the kick to make it stand out a bit more, and added a few things here and there to accent changes in song structure. Nothing more. As for the ‘Bang Bang’ track, I’m assuming it’s the same producer responsible for it.. it is not the identical production Sandro Silva produced, but is a blatant rip of an almost identical melody using a similar synth patch. This is downright bullshit, and I cannot express how incredibly ridiculous this is. Pop music already tries so hard to attach itself to the booming EDM industry — why not just blatantly steal its music, too? Whoever produced these records should never be allowed in a recording studio or behind a mixing desk ever again. Way to be, dipshits.
As an EDM producer myself, I can tell you this is a blatant rip of the master render of ‘Rebound’. The producer responsible for this added a sample to coincide with the kick to make it stand out a bit more, and added a few things here and there to accent changes in song structure. Nothing more. As for the ‘Bang Bang’ track, I’m assuming it’s the same producer responsible for it.. it is not the identical production Sandro Silva produced, but is a blatant rip of an almost identical melody using a similar synth patch. This is downright bullshit, and I cannot express how incredibly ridiculous this is. Pop music already tries so hard to attach itself to the booming EDM industry — why not just blatantly steal its music, too? Whoever produced these records should never be allowed in a recording studio or behind a mixing desk ever again. Way to be, dipshits.
#thief.i.am
well said 🙂 many classical composers only knew how to play the piano and still composed beautifully musical pieces, they simply used a different medium. (Prokofiev comes to mind)
Dude, Will.i.am steals EVERYTHING. I’m pretty sure his name isn’t even William bro not to mention everytime he tries to sound smart, he just pulls out the race card.
…and that makes it right or justifies it somehow?
I can’t believe how obvious it is. He totally ripped that off. And the worst part is he messed up a pretty good track. That song is utter garbage.
Hmm the song sucks he produced sorry, Epic has been my anthem forever nothing as for rebound love the song to. William just trying to find some funds in the house music industry because that’s what’s booming!
#will.i.scam
Blatant plagiarism. Go Arty and Zo! Have any of the big music channels reporter on this yet?
basically every edm blog out there
What?! Not at all. I’m saying this is not surprising. Nobody takes will.i.am seriously anymore.
Ah, good. Yeah, was a bit thrown off there. This is top notch douche baggery at its finest.
Scam! Now all Trance producer should be aware of there are people who steal their music to promote their owns! Mat, Arty, Sandro, Quintino should sue him!
Ridiculous. I LOVE Rebound, it was a huge deal to me when it was released (I was deployed and this track was a stress-reliever for sure), and Will.I.Am is destroying it. Respect the artists who made what you want to sample and go through the proper routes, don’t infringe on copyright. It outs you as a loser and hurts your credibility as an artist.
Also, huge props to Mat for being professional and respectful on the matter.
“Despite almost having the same chords and progression, the tracks do have their differences.” What differences? You mean where Chris Brown is singing over it? Oh, thanks for letting me know this isn’t in the original track.
It’s more than just the same musical value, it’s the same synths and samples. Regardless of whether or not some of the sonic qualities have been changed it is for all intents and purposes an identical track.
@Anthony Spagnola ”#steal.i will”.. Yoda?
bc these pop artist are ignorant, straight up. pop people always try to ruin the original & the independent stuff that starts off good. i swear it’s their life
to be fair his song “where is the love” was good.
praise the blogs, but it’s sad to hear MTV and Much Music aren’t doing their jobs…oops forget, they were never bastions of journalism. haha
they dont care for music :/
For a more current update on the story: http://whiteraverrafting.com/will-i-am-steals-arty-mat-zo-rebound-without-anjunabeats-approval/2013/04/16/
Lets hope Arty, Mat Zo, Sandro Silva and Quintino have these tracks properly registered, without it no monetary damages can be ordered by a court, only a cease and assist of the infringed work can be ordered. A lesson to always register your work, because Reproduction, Derivatives, Public Display, Public Performance, Distribution, Digital Transmission are your rights / bread and butter.
Will.i.plagiarize!
maybe #will.i.steal thinks that just because EDM is not that big in the US compared to Europe, maybe he thought that he *might* get away with it……poor dude, little did he knew that he just opened his pandora’s box lol………..REMOVE THAT SONG IMMEDIATELY! Mat shouldn’t have done that! :(…..THIS guy needs to be removed from the internet!
Fair use laws dictate that up to 30 seconds of a song can be used without permission. I think that was more than 30 seconds…
music rules
30 seconds? There is no way. Fair use does not allow that, and this track was not released under a creative commons license. This is theft of intellectual property.
For the record, anything you sample in essence has to be cleared before release. You are not allowed to take anything from any intellectual property unless cleared. Usually for hits or one-notes it’s too hard to trace, but this is way too obvious.
otoh, the only way to enforce copyright law is for the copyright holder to go after the infringer and i don’t really see that happenin in this case. do they have grounds to? yeah, sure
Bang Bang and Epic sound similiar.. but aren’t the same.. you could say they kind of took that beat from say.. Cosmic Gates – Fire wire. But def Rebound n Let’s go… there is no denying those two tracks.
Absolutely right. I have been reading up on copywrite law in music recently and you aren’t allowed to use ANY of a copywritten song without consent from the performer, publisher, or copywrite holder without consent. The only exception is parody.
Absolutely right. I have been reading up on copywrite law in music recently and you aren’t allowed to use ANY of a copywritten song without consent from the performer, publisher, or copywrite holder without consent. The only exception is parody.
more like i.will.steal…
#scam.i.am
As someone who has never produced any EDM ever, I can also tell….
Correct. However, if you want to spend the time, you could cover the same song, use the same sounds and instrumentation, pay the licensing fee, and sample your own composition. 8 cents a license could be significantly cheaper than licensing the original; however, the value on your time to go down this road may not make it fiscally feasible 😀
Ryan Stutsman huge difference between a Dj and a producer. Pauly D is a dj, he sucks. Daft Punk, Deadmau5, Swedish house mafia, etc. are producers.
don’t forget to add Deniz Koyu – Tung be stolen too on his track called Great times are coming @ 3.20.
Blantantly, unmistakably ripped off. #Will.i.sucks.
guys, check the drop of this one (at 3:10) – I produced this remix in 2009…
2 years before Epic… it’s even the same key as Will’s track “Bang Bang”….. what’s going on? : /
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kankYiIT6HI
thissss guy, ‘im a producer too dude mgay an this is against the rules mgayy” (mr garrison voice)
ya he ripped it off, shit sucks =/sum1 shut beat that ass!!!
fair use laws DO NOT allow 30 seconds
Just updated it, thanks for pointing this out!
Anyone else notice a good chunk of his lyrics are lifted from “I Got It Like That” by The Jungle Brothers as well? Did he only write a quarter of a song?
Hollywood Undead ripped off structure and lyrics from Usher (bet they didn’t think anyone would catch it… I did). Happens all the time… the populist music monkeys won’t care and will keep paying iTunes to download his shit. *shrug*
I have some tollerance for similar structure, but much less for lifted lyrics for some reason.
why is everyone flipping out? the lawyers will handle this. sending will.i.am death threats wont change anything…
I can too, except when it’s signature and therefore blatant. The HU rip off is very blatant.
Thought this was going to say, “Anyone else notice a good chunk of his hair missing from the right side of his head?” To which I was prepared to say, “Yes! I noticed!” But instead I’ll just say, “No, I have no idea what this is about.”
I just realized that this ended up posting on my FB wall. will.I.am steals music. Whatever.
Bryan Mason it doesn’t. i hope he gets sued
they’re like literally the same exact song, what a fool.
He may have been better off claiming it as a mash up, but even then he was still not cleared to do so. Anjunabeats!
He used Deadmau5’s drums in his song about a year ago… so I’m not surprised.
will.i. copy? sure
hell yeah..!!he is a biter
Did no one realize that the intro guitars to “I Got A Feeling” were ripped off from Guetta’s “Love is Gone”? Is this new to you that a pop producer is doing this? This is what they do! They’ve been doing it to hip hop for decades.
Flo-Rida and Pitbull should be on the list too….
Yeah but Guetta helped produced i gotta feeling, so that could explain that one at least.
yeah Mat was classy about it…way to be professional Mat even when the people who wronged you aren’t.
But I think that Flo-Rida and Pitbull had the rights to sample those tracks unlike Will.I.Steal who went against the words of Mat Zo and Arty and used their worked anyway. What a pompous douchebag…
Freysteinn Halldórsson Wolff – No, Will.I.Steal sounds like a question, as in “Will I steal?”, and when he reversed it to Steal.I.Will, it sounds like a statement, “Steal? I will.” meaning he did end up stealing.
@[2417198:2048:Eugene Kim] @[100002005969169:2048:Michael Cunningham]
lol what? at least Zo has some class about it. More than Will.i.am deserves
and he said: i.will.steal.again!
and he said: i.will.steal.again!
Chris Brown’s “Yeah 3x” has also ripped Contant from “Future Breeze – Temple of your Dreams”.
nice song by the way
This isn’t the first time. If you listen to Chris Brown’s ‘Turn Up the Music’, the intro is straight off copied from Nicky Romero’s ‘Toulouse’, just the pitch has been modulated.
Will.I.Copy.paste
Maybe I’m a cynic, but I will continue to spew hatred toward Will and Chris. These are two vapid zeroes that are part of the growing industry of heinous music.
catherine, to be fair, what does that song have to do with the topic of conversation?
Great times are coming is a clear ripoff from Deniz Koyu – Tung!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwTyMF4k2U0
Klart ripoff fra Epic også! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHGeLhi0VOg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3qsBfsjFLQ er også et godt ripoff fra High Highs – Flowers Bloom
I guess he and Pitbull are BFF’s.
the song isn’t even half bad its nice you guys don’t have to act anal all over the net. take your crap somewhere else.
Mat Zo is an animal.
I don’t know how well the author of this article knows the original track but anyone with a pair of ears can tell that Will I am has used the EXACT audio that features in the original track of rebound and layered new audio on top of it.
http://youtu.be/lEKOWKcUxdU SKILLS!
#i.will.steal
#i.will.steal
Why is no one giving this Mike Candy guy shit? Is he a stealer or the stealee
Anyone else remember Chris Brown’s producer stole Calvin Harris’ “I’m Not Alone?” This is “Yeah 3x” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mC2ixOAivA This is “I’m Not Alone” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8TPXFoXO5A.
As wonderfully modest and humble as Mat’s response is, I will rage and storm about this bullshit until something is done about it.
PitBull is signed to Ultra music… makes it real easy to get rights to samples when your on an EDM-esque label
My untrained ear can’t hear what the problem is – they both sound different to me. They have similarities, but I think people might be looking too much into this.
However, I’m more interested in how both parties are dealing with the allegations. Mat Zo took the time to address an abuse issue and worded it well, even including a thanks to his fans – a tremendously respectable act. Chris Brown pretty much responded with an arrogant “who the f*** are you?” and a “I don’t give a f***”; he doesn’t so much as speak the English language as he does ‘fart it out’.
My untrained ear can’t hear what the problem is – they both sound different to me. They have similarities, but I think people might be looking too much into this.
However, I’m more interested in how both parties are dealing with the allegations. Mat Zo took the time to address an abuse issue and worded it well, even including a thanks to his fans – a tremendously respectable act. Chris Brown pretty much responded with an arrogant “who the f*** are you?” and a “I don’t give a f***”; he doesn’t so much as speak the English language as he does ‘fart it out’.
no offense man, but its just a syncopated F and D over an over, its pretty damn common….. solid track nonetheless.
Yes.He.Will
Will all of the loops and samples available to download from sites like loopmasters and primeloops which are all royalty free you can imagine how many other songs have the same sounds with multiple artists that had no idea. I recently found a track by mistake that had the exact same horn sample and I was surprised to actually accidentally come across one. Did I make a scene out of it and say someone stole my shit? nope cause I guaranty there was zero intentional infringement going on. These guys are just pumped up that their song is all over the web now because they claimed that Will.i.am stole their music. Good work on the marketing guys;).
Will looks like he is about to suck some mean dick.
Shut up guys, because Your single can be next! 😉
This is sad
I keep tryin to hear the songs and spot the similarities, but my ears keep bleeding after I listen to more than 20 seconds.
So finally you can see this guys true colors always knew he was crap enough said.
Guetta may have helped but I’m sure Will.I.Am found about Guetta the same way. Everyone wants to act like their ethical but I’m sure everyone in here downloads music for free. Ultimately Will.I.Am helped these dudes whether they wanted the help or not.
@[649461173:2048:Christopher Nesheim]
I still can’t believe this shit…lol
yes of course, if you only check the “melody”. But actually it’s the whole idea of the drop, to have only the kick, the plucked-synth with these two syncopated notes and a bass. This is actually pretty muchthe same as in epic (with a lot more reverb on it) and in Bang Bang. If it was played with eg a piano sound and hihats, crashes etc it would be something different imho, but playing the “same” melody with the same sound arrangement… 😉
yes of course, if you only check the “melody”. But actually it’s the whole idea of the drop, to have only the kick, the plucked-synth with these two syncopated notes and a bass. This is actually pretty muchthe same as in epic (with a lot more reverb on it) and in Bang Bang. If it was played with eg a piano sound and hihats, crashes etc it would be something different imho, but playing the “same” melody with the same sound arrangement… 😉
This is commercial dance music.. everybody gets “input” from everyone. this is why this kind of music gets so boring. nothing new, nothing experimental. if you want to listen to quality based productions you have to go deeper in to EDM…
They see me strolling the youtube…. they tryna.. catch me.. stealing, tryna catch me theiving.
[charmillionaire – ridin’ dirty based on lyrics.. oh no I stole them xD].
samples are kosher if theyre less than 13 seconds. Parody is protected speech. But so is sampling provided you follow the rules. Frankly reusing instrumentals is something I have no problem with.
Also Will I Am is the dude that created the Samurai Jack theme song and I feel like if you listen to any kind of electronica you can’t hate on remixes, reproductions or sampling. Idk I just don’t think he did anything wrong.
The rap part of Will.I.Am s ‘Let’s Go’ sounds also a bit like Bombs Away – Super Soaker.
Lets Go 1:20 – Super Soaker 0:30.
will.i.steal
Deniz Koyu – Tung (Original) —-> http://youtu.be/2LBX3h3uzbU.
FAKE —> http://youtu.be/GwTyMF4k2U0.
Sandro & Quintino – Epic (Original) –>http://youtu.be/irfSOiH1_Ns.
FAKE —> http://youtu.be/VHGeLhi0VOg.
Arty & Mat Zo – Rebound (Original) -> http://youtu.be/DXQhVmnNmxk.
FAKE —> http://youtu.be/lV6W6_PUj0E.
Arty – Kate (Original) -> http://youtu.be/NUkT2LrcGyc.
FAKE —> http://youtu.be/vHBBBJ0RWRI.
its normal to sample songs. the reason this one is an issue is because it was not cleared. it’s not ripoff if it’s cleared fyi, that kind of producing is preeeeetty normal
pretty much tells u how unoriginal most of these artists nowadays are…these guys are too busy with their interviews/photoshoots whatever thefuck to tend to the most important thing…the MUSICCCC.
it samples both of them, twice the songs, twice the corruption