After being accused of using the music of a popular British pop band without permission, Beyoncé is hitting back, calling the allegations "erroneous and incredibly disparaging."
During the 2022 Broad Music Inc Awards in London, Fred and Richard Fairbrass, leading members of the band "Right Said Fred," called her arrogant for using their song "I'm Too Sexy" in her recent Renaissance track "Alien Superstar."
"Normally the artist approaches us but Beyoncé didn’t because she is such an arrogant person," the pair told the Sun. "She just had probably thought ‘come and get me’, so we heard about it after the fact, when you did."
"To use our melody they need our permission so they send us the demo and we approve it and if so we get a co-write credit," they added. "With this Beyoncé thing there are 22 writers, it’s ridiculous, so we would get about 40 [pence]. The reason that is happening we think is because there is so little money now in the actual sales, people like friends, golfing partners, engineers, bookers and the guy who brings the coke, they all want a cut."
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Artists such as Drake and Taylor Swift have acquired permission from the Fairbrass brothers before using the song in their works. The brothers, however, will likely not challenge Beyoncé in court, because she has "a lot more presence and power and money."
Beyoncé on Thursday responded to the allegations, claiming the brothers gave permission for her to use elements of the song.
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"Permission was not only granted for its use, but they publicly spoke of their gratitude for being on the album," Beyoncé said in a statement to E News. "For their song, there was no sound recording use, only the composition was utilized. Permission was asked of their publisher on May 11, 2022 and the publisher approved the use on June 15, 2022. They were paid for the usage in August, 2022."
The pop singer noted that both brothers are credited for the song on the album. Moreover, Beyoncé pointed out that just before the album was released in July, the band tweeted, "it’s nice to get a writing credit on the new ‘Beyoncé lbum. ‘Renaissance’ Credits: Drake, A.G. Cook, Syd, Right Said Fred, & More."
