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Post Malone sued by songwriter who says he co-wrote hit track 'Circles'

Rapper has counter-sued songwriter Tyler Armes

Isobel Lewis
Wednesday 08 April 2020 12:12 BST
Musician uses algorithm to generate every possible melody to prevent copyright lawsuits

Post Malone is being sued by a songwriter who says he deserves credit and compensation for co-writing the hit track “Circles”.

Tyler Armes claims that he "spent hours in the studio jamming with Post and Dukes and ultimately co-writing the song 'Circles’” in August 2018, and claims to have co-written parts of the instrumentation and vocal melodies for the final song.

According to the complaint filed against the rapper (whose real name is Austin Post), producer Frank Dukes and record label Universal Music Group on Tuesday, Armes reached out to Dukes after the song was released and was offered five per cent of royalties by Post in return.

However, Armes tried to negotiate a higher cut but says the “Rockstar” musician’s manager told him he’d get nothing if he did not accept the five per cent.

“It is very disappointing that Post Malone and his team did not provide Tyler Armes with co-writing credit. A number of witnesses will corroborate that Tyler co-wrote 'Circles'. We expect to be fully vindicated when this matter is decided by the Court,” Armes’ attorney told The Hollywood Reporter.

Post Malone is now counter-suing Armes. In documents seen by The Independent, his lawyers ask the court to declare that Armes has no valid copyright in the work.

They argue that while Armes was present during the initial recording session, he did not write any music or lyrics used in "Circles" and did not attend any later recording or writing sessions.

“It is an age-old story in the music business that when a song earns the type of runaway success that 'Circles' has garnered, an individual will come out of the woodwork, falsely claim to take credit for the song, and demand unwarranted and unearned windfall profits from the song,” his attorney wrote in the counter-complaint.

The Independent has contacted representatives for Post Malone, Frank Dukes and his record label for comment.

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