Ever heard of ‘Debora’ by British rock band T. Rex? If you haven’t, it’s your typical 1970s vibe, indie-rock type track that made it onto the official soundtrack for the recent blockbuster success, Baby Driver. Okay, so what’s the problem? Well, in all of Baby’s driving, he seems to have sped off without a license for ‘Debora’. Whoops.
Rolan Feld is the son of T. Rex frontman and lead singer, Marc Bolan. He is also the guy who successfully claimed the rights to 144 copyrights connected to his father’s music in 2014 and yep, you guessed it, ‘Debora’ was one of them. Feld had decided enough was enough and is now suing Sony, Media Rights Capital, Bambino Films and other parties involved in the film.
According to the complaint released by Feld, a Sony Music Rep had contacted his lawyer asking for the license to the song to use in the soundtrack. Unfortunately for Sony, Feld had unauthorised the use of the song and Sony had responded with “series of conflicting explanations” and thus it was radio silence between the two parties.
Obviously, Sony went ahead and used the song and well, shit has now well and truly hit the fan. Both parties have refused to apologise and Sony has not offered to pay Feld a “reasonable license fee,” the paperwork reads.
Sorry Baby Driver, this isn’t a good look for your smashing blockbuster. Read Feld’s official legal complaint here and check out our 5-minute web-doco on English rock star Marc Bolan here.