‘Tis the season of suing it seems. And in the latest row of lawsuits against artists is an update on the court filing against rapper/singer/songwriter Post Malone.
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Malone is being sued for songwriting credit on his hit song “Circles” by Canadian musician Tyler Armes. In response to this legal action, Malone filed his own motion against Armes’ claim and asked that Armes’ suit be dismissed. Malone’s filing, obtained by Rolling Stone, states that Armes did not contribute anything “original” to the creation and composition of “Circles.”
While Malone does confirm that Armes “was present for one early session,” the rapper also states that the musician did not offer anything past “an admittedly extremely commonplace guitar chord progression,” according to the report.
“Armes does not have a shred of affirmative evidence with which to meet his burden of proof that his alleged contribution to the guitar melody is original,” the court filing continues. “Armes admitted that his contributions did not even rise to the level of originality, which is also required in addition to the fixation requirement. He either conceded that his ideas were commonplace musical devices or failed to meet his burden to demonstrate any originality otherwise. Armes thus cannot even establish the threshold requirement that he made a copyrightable contribution.”
In conjunction with this filing, Malone has requested a summary judgment from the court on April 4, which would settle the dispute without a full trial.
The song itself was released in 2019 on Malone’s record titled Hollywood’s Bleeding. The songwriters and producers credited on “Circles” are as follows: Billy Walsh, Louis Bell, Adam Feeney, Austin Post (Post Malone), Kaan Gunesberk, and Frank Dukes.
Check out the music video for “Circles” below, and read more about today’s musical lawsuits here.
Photo of Post Malone at Governors Ball 2021; Credit: Tina Benitez-Eves
