Singer Dubie accuses Mavin act Korede Bello of copyright theft

According to Nigerian Entertainment Today (NET), Dubie, the former band leader of the Star Quest winning band, The Pulse has confirmed to NET that Mavin Record’s singer Korede Bello, didn’t reach out to him or sought permission before recording his latest song, ‘SOTE’, which shares the same title, and melody as his own.

Going Down Memory Lane

In April 2009, Dubie, the band leader of the now defunct music group, The Pulse won the then popular music TV reality show star quest after they performed the song ‘Sote’, which ultimately helped them to win the competition.

The song, written by Dubie the band leader, became an instant national hit after the competition and even caught the attention of American rapper, Busta Rhymes who was visiting the country for a concert. Busta Rhymes eventually recorded a remix of the song with the band which also received great reviews.

Back To The Present 

Just 3 days ago (May 7, 2018), Mavin records recording artiste, Korede Bello, released his own version of the song also titled ‘Sote’. While The Pulse version’s of the song was a conscious message of hope, Korede’s version is a love song where he promises his lover many good things. While both songs may not have the same message, what cannot be ignored are the obvious similarities in both tracks.

In the last few days, the Nigerian music industry has been awash with various accusations of copyright infringement. Ajegunle music duo, Danfo Drivers had accused Tekno of sampling their hit single ‘Kpolongo’ to make his latest single ‘Jogodo’ without informing the artistes. Just as we were Nigerians were still digesting the scandal, another artiste, Henry Knight also called out Peter Okoye, AKA Mr P of the defunct Psquare group for jacking his 2015 song ‘Ebeano’. Knight also claims efforts to reach out to Peter Okoye have proven difficult.

NET reached out to Dubie to know his thoughts on the controversy and ascertain if indeed he the Mavin singer reached out to him. According to the Dubie, Korede’s version does have elements from his own original recording but confirmed that Korede didn’t reach out to him. He Said: ‘Someone drew my attention to it, she called me to say I should listen to Korede Bello’s new song ‘Sote’, that it sounds just like my own. I did and it did sound like my own, especially the hook…’

NET also reached out to TegaMavin, a rep at Mavin to get reactions from Korede Bello or an official response from the label but it didn’t yield any tangible result as he promised to get back to us but hasn’t done that as at the time of this publication.

Source: NET