Entertainment

The Weeknd Gets Sued For Stolen Beat Featured On 'The Hills'

by Kendall Wood
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The Weeknd has been having one hell of a year.

From the release of "Can't Feel My Face," to the debut of Beauty Behind The Madness, to his performance at the 2015 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, it's been nothing but good fortune for the 25-year-old musician.

Today, however, publishing company Cutting Edge Music filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the singer for stealing the beat featured on his song, "The Hills."

The original track, "Revolution," was composed by Tom Raybould for a movie called, "The Machine."

The Weeknd, otherwise known as Abel Tesfaye, is now being asked to hand over the profits from his hit song to CEM.

The lawsuit claims the producer on "The Hills," Million Dollar Mano, sent a direct message to Raybould on Twitter, in which he writes,

I sampled your music might make it 2 the weeknd next album. Huge fan of what u did 4 the machine movie!

In addition to Tesfaye and Mano, aka Emmanuel Nickerson, a host of other parties are included as defendants in the case, according to Variety: Producer Illangelo (Carlo Montagnes); Ahmad Balshe, who helped compose the album; Universal Music Group and the Weeknd's label, XO, are a few of many.

The publishing company's lawsuit cites the extreme success garnered by "The Hills" and The Weeknd's album, Beauty Behind The Madness.

The single debuted in the 20 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, selling 109,000 digital copies and bringing in 5.2 million streams from the listeners at home. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 200.

In a statement, Raybould says,

The lawsuit speaks for itself, and I appreciate my publisher the Cutting Edge Group standing up for composers in situations like the one I'm in.

Citations: The Weeknd Sued for Copyright Infringement Over 'The Hills' (Variety)