This case never went to trial, although rumor has it that the copyright holders of Under Pressure threatened suit and settled with Vanilla out of court for an undisclosed sum. Conspicuously absent are David Bowie and Queen. Additionally, the liners thank such artists (presumably for inspiration) as MC Hammer, Ice T, Public Enemy, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Cash Money, EPMD and 2 Live Crew. The liner notes indicate the author of Ice Ice Baby as Vanilla Ice, Earthquake and M. It is generally the case that the readily identifiable riffs or hooks in a particular song are what generate the sales. The sampled song will compete directly with the original. It saved a sufficient amount of money in legal expenses, generated a lot of publicity and controversy and as a result, Queen was able to re-release their hit song for even greater financial gain.The music is used to provide a feel, mood, or atmosphere generally the same as the original.
Queen under pressure vanilla ice ice ice baby trial#
However, I do find the copyright holder’s decision to have Vanilla Ice pay an undisclosed sum of money, rather than go to trial a somewhat ingenious idea. The extreme, yet conspicuous resolving of this suit makes it a very interesting topic to further research. The distinctive riff sampled from Queen’s “Under Pressure” was a very controversial topic and the settlement does not provide a definitive answer. Personally, I would have liked to have seen the case against Vanilla Ice decided in the courts. Had the copyright holders had decided to sue, Vanilla Ice would have been charged and lost a significant amount of his earnings from the song “Ice Ice Baby.” A settlement outside of court is an indication that Vanilla Ice conceded that he had infringed the copyright.
A highly publicized example would be the copyright infringement case between 2 Live Crew and Roy Orbison’s conflicting versions of “Pretty Woman.”įor more information on fair use policies visit the following link!: Īlthough a great deal of consideration must be made before deciding the nature of the laws being broken, it was quite clear to the copyright holders that Vanilla Ice had in fact violated these laws. Fair use laws allow an extremely limited amount of copyrighted material to be used, but several musicians in the past have fallen victim to such charges. Had Vanilla Ice gone to court against the copyright holders of “Under Pressure,” he would have likely been sued for disobeying several fair use policies resulting in financial damages for infringing upon the original works made by Queen. As a result, Queen was able to re-release their hit song on their album entitled “Queen’s greatest hits,” as well as being credited for the use of the distinctive riff and received royalties for the sample in Ice Ice Baby.
The case was settled outside of the courtroom for an unknown sum of money although, one can assume it was a significantly high amount. Although allegations were made saying that the copyright holders of Queen and Bowie’s “Under Pressure,” threatened to sue. However, Vanilla Ice failed to credit the original artists of his highly popular song (Queen and David Bowie), as well as not licensing the sample used from “Under Pressure.’’ Such actions could have resulted in a serious lawsuit against Vanilla Ice, however, this case never went on trial. Vanilla Ice credited and thanked several other artists on the release of his album. Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” trialĪfter the release of Vanilla Ice’s chart-topping song known as “Ice Ice Baby,” in 1990, it came to the attention of many listeners that Ice had sampled the easily identifiable bass and piano riff from the Queen and David Bowie song entitled “Under Pressure,” originally released in 1981.
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