Trus'me accused of plagiarism by Roberto Clementi

  • Share
  • The two artists are embroiled in a dispute over a track called "Red Sun."
  • Trus'me accused of plagiarism by Roberto Clementi image
  • Roberto Clementi says that Trus'me has plagiarized one of his unreleased tracks. In a Facebook post, Italian producer Clementi says that he asked Trus'me, AKA UK artist David Wolstencroft, to remix a track that was due to come out on Carlo Lio's label, On Edge Society. The project fell through shortly after, with neither Clementi's original nor Wolstencroft's remix seeing release. This year, Wolstencroft released Planet 4, his fourth album as Trus'me. Clementi claims one of the tracks on the LP, "Red Sun," plagiarizes his own "Always Forward," which he has made public via SoundCloud (with the original upload dated two years ago). Trus'me has provided RA with the following statement in response:
    To begin, I would like to state that at no point were Roberto's elements used in the track "Red Sun" intentionally. It was a oversight of not keeping track of certain elements that were used in the making of "Red Sun." As soon as this was realized, it was explained to Roberto. We have made multiple attempts to come to an amicable resolution and understand this a sensitive issue. Unfortunately, he has chosen to state on his Facebook post that I had admitted to plagiarism with full intent this is both untrue and incorrect. Below you will find the chain of events this is based on email correspondences that we have on record for reference. 1. July 2015: I was contacted by Carlo Lio and asked to remix a track by Roberto Clementi. 2. August 2015: After a month working on the remix Carlo informed me that they did not wish to use it. After reaching an amicable decision to not to go ahead with the remix release, at this point I stated that I would like to keep the work done for future projects. Carlo replied that he is and to which his response was agreeable via email correspondence. All communication was with Carlo, until this point. 3. January 2016: I worked on several tracks off the Planet 4 LP at Analog Cabin in Sydney, Australia. Multiple projects were pulled up and worked on, with tracks recorded in/out of the studio desk using outboard gear. The data of individual tracks got lost during this process, unfortunately this is when the error occurred. I lost track of the elements that had remained in "Red Sun." 4. May 2016: Planet 4 was released. A few days after the release Carlo connected me directly with Roberto via email. Roberto stated that both the remix track and "Red Sun" were identical and advised he would like seek "a solution/ offer." 5. May 2016: After a careful listen to "Red Sun" I noticed it contained elements that sounded similar to the original track that was remixed, I apologized wholeheartedly for the oversight and made clear my intention to rectify the mistake to the best of my ability. Roberto accepted the apology. 6. May 2016: After discussion with my label partner, we proceeded with the following actions and terms of compensation: · Written Apology—completed. · Immediate removal of "Red Sun" via digital downloads sites within 24 hours of receiving Roberto's first email in June 2016. – completed. · Offered equal share of publishing revenue · Offered 100% income generated by "Red Sun" via vinyl LP sales with an advance payment on 500 LP sales · In the unlikely event of a repress, Roberto to be credited as co-writer on the track list. Unfortunately after a long chain of emails Roberto did not accept our terms. 7. July 2016: We received an email from Roberto asking for €5000 in compensation. As a label, this was our first experience dealing with a dispute of this sort. We sought professional advice as members of AIM (Association Of Independent Music). AIM confirmed that we had made reasonable attempts to resolve the issue. We then went further to seek legal advice from a music lawyer. He confirmed that we our attempts and offer to resolve were reasonable. Despite Roberto's threats to publicly announce and shame, we were not willing or able to give in to his demand for compensation for perceived "damages" amounting to €5000. 8. July 2016: We responded to Roberto's email reiterating our offer and advising that we cannot accept his demands. Roberto did not respond and yesterday we learned about the post that Roberto has put on his Facebook. To close we want to reiterate that Prime Numbers is a small passionate label, run as a labour of love. It is a platform to release music that we championed, along with new artistes that we believe in. It was never meant to be used to take advantage of fellow artistes. We have tried to resolve this as professionally as possible but we will not stand up to threats."
    Compare the two tracks. Roberto Clementi's "Always Forward" can be heard here. Listen to "Red Sun."
RA