The Rolling Stones face copyright lawsuit over ‘Living In A Ghost Town’

The Rolling Stones are facing a copyright lawsuit over their 2020 track, ‘Living In A Ghost Town’.

In the suit, a little-known songwriter called songwriter Sergio Garcia Fernandez, who performs under the name Angelslang, claims that the legendary band’s recent track “misappropriated many of the recognisable and key protected elements” from two of his songs, 2006’s ‘So Sorry’ and the following year’s ‘Seed Of God’.

Fernandez claims that he gave a CD of music to an “immediate family member” of Mick Jagger, with elements of the two tracks then allegedly used in the band’s 2020 song.

In a statement (via Billboard), Fernandez’s lawyers said: “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.”

It goes on to allege that ‘Living In A Ghost Town’ lifted “vocal melodies, the chord progressions, the drum beat patterns, the harmonica parts, the electric bass line parts, the tempos, and other key signatures” from ‘So Sorry’, and the “harmonic and chord progression and melody” from ‘Seed Of God’.

Representatives for The Rolling Stones did not respond to a request for comment from Billboard.

Elsewhere, The Rolling Stones are reportedly collaborating with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr on their new album.

According to Variety, multiple sources have confirmed that two surviving The Beatles band members have contributed to an as-yet unannounced Stones album, which is said to be produced by Andrew Watt. McCartney has reportedly recorded bass parts for the project, with sessions taking place in Los Angeles in recent weeks.

It’s not yet known whether McCartney’s contributions will make the final cut, or whether he’ll appear on the same song as Starr. Variety reports that the Stones project — which will mark their first album of new material since 2005’s ‘A Bigger Bang’ — is currently in the mixing phase. A release date for the album has not yet been announced, but Jagger has provided sporadic updates around new material in recent years.

In 2020, Jagger said The Rolling Stones had recorded “a bunch of tracks”, and that they were “finishing off the vocals and some other instruments on them”. He added: “It sounds good, what we’ve already done — [it] sounds pretty good to me.”

The post The Rolling Stones face copyright lawsuit over ‘Living In A Ghost Town’ appeared first on NME.