King Jammy Commends Steely & Clevie For Pursuing ‘Despacito’ Copyright Lawsuit

Acclaimed veteran music producer Lloyd “King Jammy” James has commended producer Clevie of Steely & Clevie Productions for filing a copyright infringement lawsuit against Despacito singer Luis Fonsi for infringing on their intellectual property rights.

Just over a month ago, news had emerged that Despacito, the song with the most-viewed music video on YouTube, was among the songs recorded by the Reggaeton singer, which were under scrutiny, after Steely & Clevie Productions filed the infringement lawsuit in a California Central District court.

The Law firm Doniger/Burroughs are representing the plaintiffs Clevie, whose given name is Cleveland Browne and the estate of Steely, whose birth name was Wycliffe Johnson and who died in 2009 in New York at age 47.   Also featured among the defendants are Warner Music, Universal Music Latin Entertainment, Sony/ATV Music Publishing and others.

Fonsi, who is a Puerto Rican, recorded songs that contain original elements from Steely and Clevie’s 1989 riddim titled Fish Market, also known as Poco Man Jam but known internationally as Dem Bow after Shabba Ranks’ hit track, according to the lawsuit.

In a recent interview with Winford Williams of Onstage, King Jammy said that it was habitual of Reggaeton artists to infringe on the Intellectual Property rights of Jamaican musicians.

“Well I think he (Clevie) is following the right track, because yuh know what happen? Those people mostly sample our things enuh.  And the way dem do it enuh, sometime yuh have to be somebaddy who technical to hear the sample and know the sample yuh nuh,” the Sleng Teng co-producer said.

“And they don’t give us any rights, so our rights are being stolen. So I think it is a good thing Clevie is doing right now, by setting an example that those who are gonna do it again, don’t worry dweet,” he added.

When asked by Williams whether the Fish Market/Despacito case was a ‘must win case’ or ‘a clear case’, King Jammy responded: “Of course.  Definitely, Winnie.”

He also went on to point out that the works of many more Jamaicans have been insidiously infringed upon, due in part to the fact that some of the island’s musicians had not been registering their work with the requisite publishing rights organisations.

“Let mi tell you something: our music is not organised like the American market or suh enuh.   Suh most time when wi do a ting, we don’t register anything, yuh understand?  Wi just do a ting and di chune bad and wi go out deh and hear it a play pon radio and seh ‘it bad, it bad, it bad’ and it finish there,” he explained.

“Is a good ting me and couple odda people like myself – me do my ting different.  Mi a run a business; mi have mi publisher dem weh register mi ting; dem follow it up; anyting happen mi wi know.  I have no issue out deh right now.  If a man touch anything fi me right now, it covered,” King Jammy declared.

Despacito, which features Lusi Fonso whose given name is Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero and Daddy Yankee, appears to have drum pattern elements from Fish Market, beginning at minute 1:00 to the end of the song, which had been done in a tempo slightly slower than Steely and Clevie’s Dancehall original.

The original version of Despacito has amassed more than 7.6 billion views on YouTube.  The song also topped the charts in 47 countries when it was released in 2017 and has been ranked as one of the most successful Spanish-language tracks in history and was the first Spanish song since the Macarena to top the Billboard Hot 100.

The remix with Canadian Pop star Justin Bieber collectively amassed hundreds of millions of views on YouTube.   It reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and remained in the top slot for 16 consecutive weeks.

The Poco Man Jam riddim was released in 1990 and featured songs such as the title track Poco Man Jam by Gregory Peck; Father Crab by Johnny P, Tie me Down by Flourgon, Trailer Load of Girls by Shabba Ranks, and Dem fi Dead by Papa San.

Other songs were Proceed Gal by Mega Banton, Gal yuh look Good by Admiral Bailey, Bad Mind by Red Dragon, and Stamina Body by Mega Banton.

The lawsuit against Fonsi, states further that Steely and Clevie “wrote and recorded the instrumental song entitled Fish Market and that the “recording and composition for the Song are registered with the United States Copyright Office”.

“Fish Market is an original work including an original drum pattern that gives it a unique sound that differentiates it from prior works,” it noted.

The complaint also pointed out that Fish Market riddim’s drum pattern, is the foundation for all the beats of the Reggaeton genre which was initially known as Dem Bow, after Shabba’s hit track, which featured on the riddim.

“In 1990, Mr. Browne and Mr. Johnson co-authored the song titled Dem Bow (roughly “They Bow” in English) with Shabba Ranks. Dem Bow was a massive club hit and garnered worldwide acclaim in the international reggae dancehall scene. Dem Bow’s instrumental (which is an alternative mix of Fish Market, based on the same multi-track recording) is iconic and has been acknowledged as foundational to Reggaeton music,” it said.

It also states further that Clevie “is a world-renowned influential and innovative composer, musician and producer known for, pioneering the use of drum machines in Reggae” and that the late Steelie “was a visionary and innovative composer, musician and producer”, who together “formed the writing, musical and producing duo Steely & Clevie, and worked on numerous genre-defining projects”.

It notes that the duo worked with an extensive list of high profile and internationally famous artists including Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Jimmy Cliff, Gregory Isaacs, Ziggy Marley and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.

As far back as 2013, producer veteran music producer Winston ‘Niney’ Holness, had expressed concerns similar to King Jammy, that Spanish artists had been infringing on the work of Jamaican artistes and producers with impunity.

“These guys are making the money from our music. Reggaeton was made from a Jamaican single, Dem Bow. Every rhythm in Reggaeton is the same drum pattern of Dem Bow and mi neva hear that nobody collect royalty from that yet,” Niney had told The Gleaner at the time.

“So these people make an entire genre from reggae music and get the major endorsements, while we don’t get much from our property,” the producer, who is also known as Niney, The Observer said.

Niney had also revealed another act of deception in which he said Spanish musicians were recording Jamaican songs in Spanish without the consent of the original creators, while paying no copyright fees, and as a consequence continuing the practice of the “international community robbing the profits of Reggae music”.

“When we make songs, Spanish people take it and sing it different, and we don’t speak Spanish, so we don’t realise. Because of that, the Spanish artistes don’t pay us royalties and it slips right under our nose. I think the Spanish owe reggae music millions of dollars right now. Songs like Murder She Wrote is in Spanish right now and I don’t even think Sly and Robbie know,” Niney had said.