Kanye West Sued for Allegedly Using Audio from Photographer’s Video in Song
Kanye West is facing a lawsuit from a photo agency that claims audio from its video of his heated exchange with a photographer was used in a song without permission.
Celebrity photo agency Bauer-Griffin filed the lawsuit against West, who now goes by “Ye,” as well as rapper French Montana and other defendants. The lawsuit claims that they used audio from a photographer’s video, which is owned by the agency, in the song Where They At, released in 2024 on French Montana’s album Mac & Cheese 5.
The footage at the center of the lawsuit dates back to May 2013, when West was recorded approaching a photographer outside a Los Angeles restaurant. West was with his then-wife Kim Kardashian, who was pregnant at the time, and was filmed demanding that the photographer stop taking pictures. In the photographer’s video, which Bauer-Griffin says it owns, West can be heard shouting “don’t take no photos” and telling the paparazzi to “stop it man!”
According to the lawsuit, the same audio was taken from the video and placed at the beginning of Montana’s song Where They At. The agency describes the use as “blatant and willful” copyright infringement.
“Given Mr. Ye’s history of numerous confrontations with paparazzi, the video was highly newsworthy,” the agency’s lawyers write in court documents obtained and first reported by Billboard. “Listeners immediately recognized the audio sample that begins the infringing record as being copied from the video.”
According to the complaint cited by Billboard, Bauer-Griffin says the creators of Where They At used the video\s audio despite knowing that copyrighted sound recordings must be licensed before they can be sampled in a song. The video of West’s confrontation with the photographer was reportedly originally published in 2013 with a watermark crediting the agency.
“In the music industry, copyrights are prevalent and well understood,” lawyers for the photo agency write. “Every defendant knew that they needed to have but did not have permission to use the audio sample.”
“The infringing record has been widely distributed on various streaming platforms, in flagrant violation of plaintiff’s exclusive rights under copyright laws,” Bauer-Griffin’s attorneys write. “Plaintiff brings these claims to vindicate those rights.”
West has been involved in multiple legal disputes with photographers over the use of their work. Last year, a Magnum photographer alleged that West used one of his photographs without permission for the cover of his 12th album. Another photographer also sued West after alleging that the rapper failed to pay $110,000 for a last-minute photo shoot, leaving her unable to pay rent.
Image creditsHeader photo via Wikimedia Commons.
