A new record on Tresor has been recalled and deleted after it was found to plagiarise tunes by Stanislav Tolkachev and Alexey Volkov.
The EP in question is Golden Rule, a three-track release by an Italian producer called Confucio. (RA ran news on the record in March and it has been streaming over at FACT since April 14th.) Following its release, Dasha Rush publicly noted the similarities between Confucio's "Where The Logic Ends" and Stanislav Tolkachev's 2006 cut "Blue Mood." It was then revealed that the second tune, "The Present Is The Future," bore similarities to 2011's "Self Control" by Alexey Volkov.
Initially Tresor negotiated with the labels that released those records—Aftertaste Recordings and Planete Rouge—for all proceeds to go to the original authors of the source material used in the tracks. However, they've now decided to recall and delete all physical copies of Golden Rule as well remove it from digital stores. They also cancelled Confucio's planned appearance at Tresor in Berlin on Friday, April 18th.
When contacted by RA, Tresor provided the following statement:Tresor Records recently announced the release of three titles sent to us by Italian producer Emmanuel Beddewela, as the first tracks of his new project entitled Confucio. Unfortunately, we were recently made aware that two of the three titles in question had been produced using works from other producers.
While the artist in question has not commented to us or the public on the matter, Tresor's standpoint on the issue is clear. The artist's performance at the corresponding release event at Tresor was cancelled this past Friday, April 18th. Tresor.276 stock is also currently getting recalled and deleted, as well as taken down from digital stores. The foundation of these tracks come from producers we regularly work with and truly respect, such as Stanislav Tolkachev and Alexey Volkov. We would like to thank them publicly for all their support, understanding and assistance.
With the label’s mission being to bring new and exciting releases to our listeners and listening to all the demos we receive, our mistake was to engage an artist we were not entirely familiar with.
Sampling, remixing, reworking and re-editing are techniques that find themselves at the core of electronic music. With the perspective Tresor has acquired over the last 25 years, controversies of this nature have always existed around the technique and have both positively and negatively affected the industry. Unfortunately, these examples go beyond this and we apologise to our fans, supporters and the artists involved once more.
Update: We contacted Beddewela for his thoughts on the matter. His response had not been submitted when we initially ran the news, but his statement now appears below. It has been edited for legibility.
The story is quite simple.
1. I never copy, and even if I do I would never do that under a place like Tresor... I got a wav from a friend that was recording stuff on YouTube. The moment I heard that wav I loved it and I started to work on it. The result was good, so I saved it. (I sent it to Tresor and they wanted it with the other track, and even more tracks for a second EP.) After this I started to notice (the similarities to Tolkachev's track)... immediately I was shocked, but I started to talk with Stanislav immediately and he was OK with it. He said 'OK it's not a problem to release it, I like it and also it's an honor to be on Tresor, even this way.'
2. The second track was done with that bassline that is quite similar or (the) same as (what) Volkov did. I didn’t know the track and I have done it with Razor Vst from Native Instruments, (it) is a sound that everyone can do from that one. I tried to talk to him and say sorry if the sounds were similar and he was offended, but he never replied. He posted a picture of me saying 'I'm sorry,' ruining my anonymity.
3. Tresor and me got the similarities info from the mailout, and from there we started to work to fix it, Tresor got the license for both (tracks), and even (though) I didn’t copy the second track and I didn’t mean to steal Stanislav('s) work. I wanted to avoid any problems.
I was even thinking about deleting the release with Tresor knowing all this, but the record was pressed and mailed out...
I can clearly say sorry to everyone involved, but with:
1. Stanislav's OK and awareness
2. The license all legally done
3. The press and the distribution at the shop confirmed that it wasn’t all planned, we didn't want to make this mess, and we/at least me thought was all going fine with a dedication on A1 to Stanislav.
4. I never wanted the credit and I don't even want it, this is why I put the record out under another name. It is totally another project from me, that is not connected to Emmanuel.