Dancehall artist Alkaline is facing legal action over the cover art for his new single ‘Nice & Easy’ released earlier this week.
The Leemilla-produced single is currently the number one trending single in Jamaica on YouTube with over 500,000 streams.
The official cover art for the single uses a photograph of Jamaican-born, Miami-based model Nerissa Nefeteri. However according to Nerissa and photographer Jason Bassett, they weren’t contacted by the ‘Champion Boy’ deejay’s team to use their content.
“Nerissa sent me the photo after she was tagged a crazy amount of times about an artist stealing our shot. This was shot by me in 2010 of her, and was never sought after for permission,” Bassett told The Tropixs.
Bassett says he contacted the Vendetta deejay’s team but wasn’t pleased with how they handled the situation, “When I contacted their [Alkaline’s] management, they keep asking for proof that I shot it, when proof is online even through a quick Google Search, through the models page, through the model release I provided and the high-resolution photos I only have.”
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“Then they proceed to tell me they can’t deal with me or settle because many people are claiming the photo. Admitting right there that they stole it and have no idea who owns it,” he said.
“They refuse to provide me with proof of permission or license because there is none!”
“It’s disheartening to have an artist with a management team with unfortunately a poor procedure as it pertains to using photographs of others for promotion of a brand.”
“We are fully aware that it may not even be directly Alkaline’s fault, it’s just regretful that our options are to deal with the publisher of the content as the management has thus far been unhelpful.”
“It shouldn’t have been used in the first place. Surely they knew this going in, whomever designed it and the many people I’m sure stamped the approval for release. We are not trying to bring a talented man down, we are seeking resolution for us passionate creators to receive our justice.”
“We can’t go after the chefs, we have to address the restaurant, the face of the brand benefiting from the use of property protected by copyright,” he added.
