Fairness and Fair Use

Vanilla Ice vs Queen & Bowie

Vanilla Ice became a household word for a while, not because of his talent, but because of the copyright infringement that occured in 1990 when it came to light that he had sampled Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” without consent or license. Ice Ice Baby hit number one on the charts in the United States and Vanilla Ice became the one ‘under pressure’. Vanilla Ice altered the rhythm of the baseline thinking he would thereby avoid any question of credit, royalties, license or even permission. This case never went to court as it was clear that Vanilla Ice had stolen the sample without permission. He settled out of court with Queen and David Bowie for an undisclosed but very likely very high amount. Ice Ice Baby has been released in many different versions, since then, with all of the legal procedures followed.

-http://www.fairwagelawyers.com/most-famous-music-copyright-infringment.html

Personally I understand why Queen would be upset that Vanilla Ice used their music. But, he only took the beat and not the lyrics. What I don’t get is why Queen decided to take the case so far, though it didn’t go to court. In the end Vanilla made a great song that mostly everyone loved, just by using the beat of Queen’s “Under Pressure”. I think it would have been cool if they could have collaborated or something.

Heres the Video, just for the heck of it