The Rolling Stones’ most recent single, “Living in a Ghost Town,” which was released in the spring of 2020, is the subject of a copyright infringement lawsuit.
Nevertheless, a songwriter has recently alleged that frontman Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards “misappropriated” significant portions of two of his songs. The iconic rockers published Living In A Ghost Town back in 2020.
Sergio Garcia Fernandez, who goes by the stage name Angelslang, claims in court documents(opens in new tab) that the Rolling Stones “misappropriated many of the recognizable and key protected elements” of two of his own compositions, So Sorry (2006) and Seed of God (2007), for Living In A Ghost Town. Fernandez said that a number of components from “So Sorry,” including vocal melodies, chord progressions, percussion and harmonica sections, and more, were used in “Living in a Ghost Town.”
According to Fernandez’s attorneys, Billboard reports: “The immediate family member … confirmed receipt … to the plaintiff via e-mail, and expressed that the musical works of the plaintiff and its style was a sound The Rolling Stones would be interested in using”
Fernandez further asserted that the singer acquired a CD he once handed to a member of Jagger’s family, which contained two of his songs. The lawyers added, “defendants never paid plaintiff, nor secured the authorization for the use.”
The Stones’ first original song since 2012, “Living in a Ghost Town,” was based on 2019 recording sessions and completed remotely owing to the Covid-19 epidemic. Due to the song’s importance to the lockdown, they hastened its release, and Mick Jagger changed some of the lyrics to make explicit reference to the lockdown; the original lyrics were of being a ghost after a disease. He asserts that he wrote them in ten minutes.
The case still awaits the Rolling Stones’ response. These are attached videos for Living in a Ghost Town and So Sorry.
