The Rolling Stones face copyright lawsuit over ‘Living In A Ghost Town’

The Rolling Stones are facing a copyright lawsuit over their 2020 track, ‘Living In A Ghost Town’.

In the suit, a little-known songwriter called Sergio Garcia Fernandez, who performs under the name Angelslang, claims that the legendary band’s recent track “misappropriated many of the recognisable and key protected elements” from two of his songs, 2006’s ‘So Sorry’ and the following year’s ‘Seed Of God’.

Fernandez claims that he gave a CD of music to an “immediate family member” of Mick Jagger, with elements of the two tracks then allegedly used in the band’s 2020 song.

In a statement (via Billboard), Fernandez’s lawyers said: “The immediate family member … confirmed receipt … to the plaintiff via e-mail, and expressed that the musical works of the plaintiff and its style was a sound The Rolling Stones would be interested in using.”

It goes on to allege that ‘Living In A Ghost Town’ lifted “vocal melodies, the chord progressions, the drum beat patterns, the harmonica parts, the electric bass line parts, the tempos, and other key signatures” from ‘So Sorry’, and the “harmonic and chord progression and melody” from ‘Seed Of God’.

Representatives for The Rolling Stones did not respond to a request for comment from Billboard.

This article was first published on nme.com by Will Richards