History ScrewedByTheLawyers / Music

* "Addictive", the debut single of Music/TruthHurts (AKA Shari Watson), can no longer be sold or performed anywhere after label Aftermath and parent company Interscope records were sued by Music/LataMangeskhar, whose vocals were heavily sampled on the track. As this was Watson's biggest hit, and her next big hit had the misfortune of being a collaboration with Music/RKelly right before he was accused of sex crimes, the lawsuit pretty much doomed Watson to obscurity.

** He tried to include the song "Polkamon" from ''Anime/Pokemon2000'' in his boxset, but Nintendo refused to license the song.

* "Doin' Time" by {{Music/Sublime}} includes lyrical references to George Gershwin's "Summertime", as well as {{sampling}} a CoverVersion of the song by jazz flautist Herbie Mann - in order to release the song with the sample intact, they had to agree to change every instance of the TitleDrop to "Summertime". This complicated the release of the song, as they'd already recorded it with the "doin' time" lyric, and lead vocalist Bradley Nowell [[DiedDuringProduction died months before the album was set to be released]]. Michael Happoldt, a friend and producer of the band, ended up singing the parts of the song that legally needed to be dubbed over - the song title remained the same, even though now [[NonAppearingTitle the lyric "doin' time" appeared nowhere in the song]]. A 2006 deluxe reissue of the album would restore the originally intended lyric to the song.

* [[Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival John Fogerty's]] dispute with Fantasy Records owner Saul Zaentz kept him from launching a solo career in earnest until the 1980s, and then Zaentz sued him over the similarity of his solo hit, "The Old Man down the Road" to Creedence's "Run Through the Jungle", a song Fogerty wrote, since Zantz held the publishing rights to the Creedence catalog. Fogerty ultimately prevailed in court.

* In 2022, Swedish indie pop singer-songwriter Jens Lekman had two of his records discontinued, due to legal issues with samples. The first was a compilation of EPs called "Oh You're So Silent, Jens", from 2005. The other was his second album in 2007, called "Night Falls Over Kortedala". Lekman had to re-record both records, and were reissued respectively as ''The Cherry Trees are Still in Blossom'' and ''The Linden Trees are Still in Blossom''.

* In 1991, singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan sued rapper Music/BizMarkie for using an uncleared sample of his song "Alone Again (Naturally). The case (Grand Upright Music, Ltd v. Creator/WarnerBrosRecords Inc.) was settled for $1.7 million, and Markie's song "Alone Again" was pulled from circulation.

* In 2007, the South Korean pop singer Ivy released the song "Sonata of Temptation". Though the song itself was popular, the music video was taken down and she and her company was sued by Creator/SquareEnix because it recreated footage of Tifa and Loz's fight from ''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren'' with some minor variations. The director included a disclaimer, but that was not enough.

* In 2007, the South Korean pop singer Ivy released the song "Sonata of Temptation". Though the song itself was popular, the music video was taken down and she and her company was sued by Creator/SquareEnix because it included footage of Tifa and Loz's fight from ''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren''. The director included a disclaimer, but that was not enough.

* In 2022, Swedish indie pop singer-songwriter Jens Lekman had two of his records discontinued, due to legal issues with samples. The first was a compilation of EPs called "Oh You're So Silent, Jens", from 2005. The other was his second album in 2007, called "Night Falls Over Kortedala". Lekman had to re-record both records, and were reissued respectively as ''The Cherry Trees are Still in Blossom'' and ''The Linden Trees are Still in Blossom''.

* In the year 2000, German trance group Fragma released "Toca's Miracle", a mashup of their earlier single "Toca Me" with the vocals of "I Need a Miracle" by English singer Coco. It became an international hit, reaching #1 in the UK. However, it turns out that Coco [[PoorCommunicationKills never received any royalties for her vocal contribution due to a sample mix-up by record label Positiva]], thus leading to a lawsuit against them in 2015. The original version of the song is currently [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes blacklisted from all streaming platforms, and physical copies are unobtainable by legal means]].

* Music/{{Incubus}}'s debut album, ''Fungus Amongus'', has not been reissued since 2000, and is not available in any digital outlet, due to both OldShame from Incubus and legal conflicts between the band and Sony Music Entertainment.

* Music/SufjanStevens' album ''Music/{{Illinois}}'' initially had Superman on the cover art. A few weeks after the album's release, the record label, Asthmatic Kitty, realized they'd never gotten the rights to use Supe's likeness, so they pulled all unsold copies before DC Comics could sue them. Fortunately, AK worked out a deal with DC: they could sell the copies that had already been printed, but subsequent printings wouldn't include Superman. Some new covers had empty sky where Supes had been, while others had a bunch of balloons in his place. The initial vinyl pressing had a balloon sticker obscuring Supes. And the 10th anniversary remaster of the album substituted another superhero: Blue Marvel--and this time, AK made sure to get permission from Marvel Comics beforehand.

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic performed a parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" called "You're Pitiful", and intended to release it as the lead single to the album ''Music/StraightOuttaLynwood''. However, after recording completed, Atlantic Records (Blunt's label) prohibited Yankovic from releasing the song, despite Blunt giving prior approval to writing and liking the parody. ''Legally'' Atlantic had no authority to block the release; parody is well established as being protected speech and no permission is required. Yankovic seeks permission from the original artists of songs he wants to parody simply as a courtesy. It was later released as a free downloadable single on [=MySpace=] and has played it in concert, but it has never seen a general release to this day. In a case of Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, this setback led to Al crafting "White & Nerdy" in its stead, and the song has since gone on to become one of his biggest hits. Amusingly, the "White & Nerdy" video features a massive TakeThat to Atlantic in which Al [[RetconningTheWiki vandalizes the Atlantic Records]] Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} page with the words "YOU SUCK!", [[LifeImitatesArt something his fans actually proceeded to do following the video's release]].

* This is what ended up wrecking Music/TheVerve. The song "Bitter Sweet Symphony", which propelled them to mainstream fame in 1997, caught the attention of Allen Klein, former manager of Music/TheRollingStones and the owner of their pre-1971 work, sued them for overuse of a sample of Andrew Oldham Orchestra's version of "The Last Time". The Verve lost and was forced to change the writing credits to Jagger/Richards as well as give the Stones all of their earnings made from the song. They would end up flailing for another year before announcing their breakup. In May 2019 Richard Ashcroft, the lead singer of The Verve, announced that he had reached a deal with The Rolling Stones' current manager and Allen Klein's son (who inherited the publishing rights after Allen's death in 2009) which saw Jagger/Richards waiving their credit on the song and signing over all rights to The Verve.

* Music/SufjanStevens' album ''Illinois'' initially had Superman on the cover art. A few weeks after the album's release, the record label, Asthmatic Kitty, realized they'd never gotten the rights to use Supe's likeness, so they pulled all unsold copies before DC Comics could sue them. Fortunately, AK worked out a deal with DC: they could sell the copies that had already been printed, but subsequent printings wouldn't include Superman. Some new covers had empty sky where Supes had been, while others had a bunch of balloons in his place. The initial vinyl pressing had a balloon sticker obscuring Supes. And the 10th anniversary remaster of the album substituted another superhero: Blue Marvel--and this time, AK made sure to get permission from Marvel Comics beforehand.