SVG’s Road March soca king in copyright trouble

This country’s 2009 Soca Road March King, Shertz James may have run himself into some serious problems.

James, who goes by the stage name “Problem Child” is featured on the hit remix, “Party Hard,” a song written by UK-based artiste Donae’o.{{more}}

James’ remix has ripped through the airwaves in Trinidad’s carnival and has been in heavy rotation on local airwaves.

One would think that Donae’o would be thrilled by the exposure his music has been getting outside the UK. Unfortunately, he’s not! He’s angry!

Donae’o has never authorized James’ remix of his song, which could well spell legal implications for James.

In an interview with http://entertainmentmacco.blogspot.com/ Donae’o stated that he never had collaborated with James. “I only found out about the bootleg the other day; I didn’t authorise that mix. He found the instrumental and recorded his own version without my permission,” Donae’o said.

Donae’o indicated that he was not aware of how popular the song was throughout Trinidad Carnival. “I’m only finding out now to be honest. We were pushing Party Hard since Nov 2008 and it blow in the UK early 2009,” he said.

When asked if he would consider performing the song with James, Donae’o responded with a resounding “No!” The singer/writer/producer said that James only contacted him after the song had gained popularity and then asked for authorization. Donae’o told the blog that he said, “No, but the fact remains that the song was huge already…I feel and felt disrespected and exploited…both me and my music were exploited,” said Donae’o.

As to taking legal action, Donae’o said that, “It is something that we would have to discuss with him…only time will tell… But I can tell you it is something I am not going to authorize…” he told entertainmentmacco.

Meanwhile, James, in a response video posted on March 1, on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJG2ZKjKBYA), apologized for what transpired with the song. In 2009, James said he was introduced to the “Funky House” genre of music. James said he did some research on the song and came across “Party Hard”. “I said to myself, I have “Party Animal” and this is “Party Hard” so it would be cool to remix either my song or his,” James disclosed.

James added that he got into contact with an individual who lives and resides in the UK, who told him (Problem Child) that he had a link to Donae’o and his camp. “I was like, yo! We really need to make this happen…I just said to myself, they don’t know me and I don’t know them but I believe in my talent,” he added. James revealed that he went and got the instrumentals for the song and “patched and mixed up something to try to convince them that we should do the remix.”

The artiste admitted that he recorded the song. He got “too hype” and sent it to the individual who claimed he had a link to Donae’o. “There was no response. I tried, my PR rep tried but we couldn’t find him,” James added. He stated that he sent the song to three people just to get their opinions on the song.

James said he received a phone call from a friend in Trinidad during the carnival, stating that the song was a huge hit. “At the time I had just done the Madhouse remix and I was like, it’s big already?” James said, instead, it was “Party Hard” that was becoming popular. “I was like, what! I never sent this to Trinidad or anywhere beside those three individuals…I cant be crazy to go take a man tune, jump on it and release it,” James added.

Taking part in Trinidad’s festivities, James said that he performed at shows but only performed his 2007 Road March song, “Party Animal.” “People started me saying, boy you have to perform that song…so after seeing certain bands do other peoples tunes, I was like, I’m not booked for any gigs and I was never paid for any of these,” James declared. “I just decided well, people like the tune, let me just do the tune for doing the tune sake. I did send it to a couple of people after that but the tune was already out there,” he added.

An apologetic James admitted that he never meant any disrespect and he did not release the tune. “I understand why the original artiste should feel upset but none of this was intentional and I did not gain any finances or put the song on any album,” he stated.

This is not the first time James has been faced with something of this nature. In 2007, James won the Road March title with his song “Party Animal”. Persons were up in arms that the music was not original and that he did not deserve to win.