News - 5 August 2019 08:23

Artists rally to accuse singer Chris Brown of copying their work in music video

German artist Marius Sperlich has accused singer Chris Brown of copying his work in the singer's music video.

Berlin-based Sperlich claims Chris Brown's music video for his song "Wobble Up" contains images that juxtaposes a human nipple for a temperature dial, and a tropical island shaped like a human buttock. These images are similar to two of his works.

He also noticed an image from the music video where two lemons are meant to resemble human nipples with one sporting a piercing, which looks like a work by artist Tony Futura.

Sperlich, who has over 400,000 followers on Instagram, told The Guardian other artists on Instagram have also been ripped off by the creators of the music video, and the list includes Vanessa McKeown, Catherine Losing, Paul Fuentes and Jamie Calderon. They claim no permission was sought to use their works.

Sperlich said he would not have agreed to a request anyway. “I’m super selective,” Sperlich said. He also does not like the cheapening of his ideas: “I’m trying to get my work into the art world. Why did they do it in a music video? I have no idea what they were thinking.”

Futura spoke up about the issue by writing a post with the hashtag #changeindustry: "Please tag, comment, repost and help us artists to get press on this. Because credit is the only thing that lets people know about our work. Credit saves creativity. Please help us to spread awareness to all creative fields and the creative industry."

Sperlich wrote in an Instagram post highlighting the similarities between the music video and his ideas: "Nowadays its very easy to copy things. For many the internet is just an open source of concepts, ideas and free content. Nobody cares about creation, originals and credit anymore. Especially if you are a young and an emerging artist....most cant (sic) afford a lawyer for a lawsuit. So most of them remain silent - We won’t stay silent."

Representatives for Chris Brown and Sony did not respond to requests for comment from media outlets.

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Artists rally to accuse singer Chris Brown of copying their work in music video

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