British singer Kate Nash accuses Snapchat of using her music without permission
Musician Kate Nash has accused Snapchat of using the beat for her breakout single Foundations without her permission.
Kate Nash accuses Snapchat of using her music without permission
The British singer took to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to broadcast the allegations via a video featuring herself using one of the messaging app's animated Lenses.
Music can be heard in the background and while some of her fans have pointed out that the clip is similar in style to Nash's tune, there are no lyrics to discern whether the singer's melody has actually been featured by Snapchat.
A Snapchat spokesperson said that the company works with several third-parties to clear music, including some music libraries, and that the song in question was obtained through one of those channels.
Hi @Snapchat Do you pay ppl for the use of their work? Been off a record label now for 5 years. Is this legal? I should be paid PLS RETWEET pic.twitter.com/9qq9iKltFG
— Kate Nash (@katenash) February 17, 2017
Nash released her first album Made of Bricks in 2007 and has been an independent artist for five years. "Would really appreciate being paid for the use of my work by a giant corporation," she said in an Instagram post directed towards Snapchat.
She said Snapchat's alleged use of her material was "disappointing," claiming the it was "another example of a giant corporate company using artists to make money/for an image/or their actual art and not supporting or funding artists and their community in any way."
The company has been working closely with musicians over the past few months to bring audio to its augmented reality overlay format. Earlier this year it teamed up with Ed Sheeran to hide an album teaser in the Lenses reel.
This isn't the first time the upstart has been accused of plagiarism. Last year Russian artist Alexander Khokhlov claimed the app had appropriated his work. The company later apologised and called the incident an "embarrassing mistake."