A songwriter is suing the YouTube comedy duo Handsome Dancer, declaring they haven’t effectively credited, or paid him, for his contributions to their viral song, “Coincidance.”
The lawsuit was filed by Giacomo Lamparelli, who’s seeking damages for unpaid royalties connected to the track, in accordance to the court documents attained by Rolling Stone. Lamparelli statements he presented important contributions to the authentic demo produced by Handsome Dancer’s James Manzello and Matt Pavich, but in the wake of the song’s accomplishment, the pair “have ceased giving Mr. Lamparelli credit rating for his function, refused to realize him as a co-author, refused to provide an accounting and refused to fork out any payment for Mr. Lamparelli’s creation services or his work” on the observe.
Handsome Dancer did not quickly return Rolling Stone’s request for remark.
“Coincidence” was initial launched in 2015 and steadily turned a viral success about the many years. As noted in Lamparelli’s lawsuit, the track has racked up thousands and thousands of performs on YouTube and Spotify, and gotten lots of consideration on TikTok (the lawsuit erroneously refers to the system as “TikToc.com” all over). Also, “Coincidance” was highlighted on The Ellen Present, a trailer for Netflix’s animated movie Back again to the Outback, and in a Volkswagen industrial that aired in Taiwan.
In accordance to Lamparelli, Handsome Dancer “created, wrote and made the lyrics and some of the instrumental portion” of “Coincidance,” but that the track “required significant musical and production additions” to be “a commercially viable work” when they enlisted his aid. Lamparelli statements Handsome Dancer questioned him to “add sizeable musical elements” and develop the track, and promises he was promised payment, credit, and royalties for his contributions. But the lawsuit does confess: “[T]he events under no circumstances memorized the conditions of their arrangement into a written deal.”
The lawsuit outlines Lamparelli’s alleged contributions to the track, which spanned almost everything from instrumental perform to shaping the “entire climax, ‘the drop,’ and ending, essentially the total closing section of the song… ‘Coincidance’ contains all of Mr. Lamparelli’s contributions such as the previous and most impressive effect of the track retained by the listener.”
Inspite of the absence of a agreement amongst Handsome Dancer and Lamparelli, the latter’s lawsuit promises that Manzello “admitted to Mr. Lamparelli that he was a producer/impartial contractor with no a created agreement and that Mr. Lamparelli’s Get the job done substantially contributed to Defendants’ Get the job done to make ‘Coincidance.’” The lawsuit also claims that Manzello wrote Lamparelli in Aug. 2017 that he “is entitled to compensation… and ongoing future royalties.” Furthermore, Manzello allegedly “indicated” that Lamparelli was entitled to “at the very least 1-third of the revenue created by ‘Coincidance.’”
For every the lawsuit, Manzello again “confirmed” Lamparelli was entitled to compensation for “Coincidance” in May well 2021, but not very long after that, Manzello allegedly “refused to present any further accounting of any royalties or other income gained from ‘Coincidance.’” Lamparelli explained his makes an attempt to get this info have been disregarded, and that when he submitted another ask for by means of his attorney, an legal professional for Manzello declined to provide an accounting, as perfectly.
Finally, the lawsuit claims, “Upon evaluation of the existing publications of ‘Coincidance,’ it seems that Defendants have taken out all point out of Mr. Lamparelli from the credits.” It also promises that Manzello has “contested the existence of a contract and contested, for the first time, that Mr. Lamparelli was a co-creator of ‘Coincidance.’”
Lamparelli is trying to find financial damages to be proven at demo in excess of $2 million, as perfectly as non-monetary damages.
Added reporting by Seamus Hughes.
From Rolling Stone US.