Tag: ghostwriter

Artist, er plagiarist spotlight: David Herrero, the man who stole from Underground Resistance

Shame_on_You.pngEven if you don’t know David Herrero by name, there is a good chance you’ve heard his productions or have seen him DJ somewhere. With releases on such venerable labels as Cr2, Nervous, and Defected that have been supported by the likes of Marco Carola, Loco Dice, Nic Fanciulli, Richie Hawtin and many others, as well as having played at internationally known clubs like Space Miami, it’s pretty obvious that David has quite a bit of experience in the underground music business.

So why then, with all this experience, would he sign a track to Chus & Ceballos‘ label (Stereo Productions) with an unlicensed vocal? Cornelius Harris, vocalist for Underground Resistance, is wondering the same thing. In a recent post on Facebook, Cornelius made his feeling clear to the label owners:

“Hey Chus & Ceballos, I have to be honest, discovering that you took my voice and used it for one of your tracks WITHOUT contacting me or anyone else associated really pisses me off. Take that crap down NOW. No joke.”

We at Not Your Jukebox concur with Cornelius’ sentiment and are wondering what would drive someone to do this. Especially someone who, per his biography, “live[s] for music” and when he goes to the studio, its “with the same excitement as the very first day.” Until David explains himself, we have a few theories of our own:

  1. He didn’t produce his own track. Given the sheer number of productions with his name (nearly 600 releases on Beatport), and in light of the known and rampant use of ghostwriting in the industry, we find it highly suspect that he would actually have that much creative juice running through him (especially after listening to several of his tracks).
  2. He didn’t realize that he didn’t have or need permission to use the vocals. There is always a chance he is just an idiot, even despite his proclaimed longevity and knowledge in the industry.
  3. He just plain old-fashioned thought he would get away with it. He would have gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for those meddling kids interwebs.

Personally, I think it is a combination of all three (keep in mind, the original track is titled Transition and David’s is Make Your Transition, I mean come on). Unfortunately, in the end, I suspect we won’t hear from David and that the offending track will eventually be erased from the internet as much as possible. Even Chus & Ceballos’ reply to Cornelius was a meek and garden variety, ‘whoops we had no idea’. But I am curious, how many other people have been ripped off by this “artist”?

Feel free to let David know your own thoughts on the matter. At the very least, you can always, gently, educate him it is never a good idea to mess with Underground Resistance and that maybe he should offer Cornelius an apology.

***UPDATE***

Seems there is another very similar rip off by Gonzales & Gonzalo on KD Music.

The original track:

 

The offending track:

 

Another offender:

The problem with ghostwriting dance music

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Not long ago, the interweb was abuzz with some potentially interesting discussion regarding dance music ghostwriting. Unfortunately it was short-lived and the parts of the discussion that had any real value never fully materialized. While a few articles claimed to oust some ghostwriters, they did little more than praise artists like Benny Benassi (known ghostwriter) for their hustle. Really, there should have been at least a hint of discussion about how ludicrous the whole enterprise actually is.

No harm no foul

The discussion has since been abandoned with a hastily adopted conclusion that the whole thing falls into the ‘no harm no foul’ category. Something to the effect that if the ghostwriter is ok with the terms of the contract they signed and if the person who attached their name to the work has no moral dilemma with purchasing the illusion that they possess some skill, then there is no problem. Before you subscribe to such monetarily-centric industry behaviors, let’s put a few of the important aspects of this trade into focus.

It should first be made clear that really, the ghostwriter is not to blame. It takes tremendous hustle to make ends meet in today’s economy, especially by way of the music industry. Having talent alone isn’t nearly enough to survive, even for those few of a kind that can produce more than a single potential hit. Ghostwriters alone may not have the infrastructure, contacts, or financial backings available that are needed to make music a successful hit. This is of course assuming that they even wanted to be in the limelight in the first place.

The ghostwriter is also clearly more interested in choosing money over artistic integrity by the very fact they are parting ways with their creation in order to let someone else take the credit for a few (or many) bucks. There is no mistake or confusion as to what their goals or intentions are in regards to their work. They are in it to make money, clear and simple. The person attaching their name on the bought work, however, is a liar. They are living a lie and they are selling a lie.

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The Elton John defense

People often cite artists like Elton John, Elvis, or any of the countless artists who are not only well known for not writing their own music, but also for becoming quite famous as a result of the songs that the ghostwriters provided them. There is an obvious, but unfortunately, overlooked difference in having a ghostwriter provide you with a song that you in turn PERFORM LIVE for an audience compared to a song you simply PRESS PLAY for an audience. Artists like Elton John still perform the song. They bring their own talent to the equation, a piece of themselves, as well as some actual effort to the piece.

Even when assuming the extremely unlikely scenario that a DJ/Producer who is willing to slap his name on someone else’s work in turn actually mixes it in to his own set (and yes some DJs buy premixed sets to play out for ‘live’ shows), are they really bringing any talent to the performance? Wouldn’t this then give him the right to lay claim to every song he plays in his set as his own by proxy? The short of it is that they aren’t selling a track as a result of their performance of it or really anything they are adding to it, as is the case for artists like Elton John.

For a producer to even qualify as having talent they need to actually produce, for a DJ, they need to actually mix (and mix live at that). When you buy either of these tasks and slap your name on it, it just makes you a lying fraud. These credit usurping talentless frontmen that do so are no Elton Johns, rather, they are more akin to Milli-Vanilli than anything else. If we didn’t stand for Milli-Vanilli’s pedantic synchronized dancing and lip-syncing nonsense when they were called out, why should we stand for any of these Jesus posing sky-pointing fakers?

Selling lies

At this point some people might be tempted to spout off some rhetoric nonsense like ‘if the people like the music, have a good time and are none the wiser, what difference does it make? Who gets really gets hurt?’ The industry gets hurt and the consumer pays the price, quite literally. Not only are consumers buying and perpetuating a lie, they are elevating these glorified lip-syncers to millionaire status. Consumers are unknowingly perpetuating a system where imitators keep raising their performance prices, which in turn further gouges the consumers when it comes to performance costs, all in the name of paying for the artist’s increasing cost of their lies and fame greed. Dance music has become increasingly caught in a vicious cycle of paying for lies.

As always, Not Your Jukebox seeks to remain a champion for art, truth, consumer awareness, and to encourage others to do the same. Don’t pay for lies and fame greed, demand better.

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