Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Jay-Z paid for my whirlpool, says Swiss musician in plagiarism case

Musician Bruno Spoerri has a bubble bath thanks to rapper Jay-Z
Musician Bruno Spoerri has a bubble bath thanks to rapper Jay-Z Keystone-SDA

Swiss music pioneer Bruno Spoerri says he has US rapper Jay-Z to thank for his whirlpool. Jay-Z paid Spoerri CHF30,000 ($32,700) for sampling one of his works without permission.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

In 2015 a friend of Spoerri’s told him that Jay-Z’s song Versus sounded very much like an excerpt from Spoerri’s piece On the Way, recorded in 1978 for the experimental film Lilith, the Schweizer Illustrierte wrote on Monday.

+ Jay Z accused of stealing Swiss music sample

In a BBC interview, Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, claimed he had written the song together with producer Timbaland. “Fake news! They simply stole my song, lowered the melody half a note and amplified the beat,” said 89-year-old Spoerri.

External Content
External Content

Thanks to a publisher, an out-of-court settlement was reached at the time. Spoerri says he used the money he received to buy himself a new shower as well as a whirlpool. He also receives “a few francs a year” in royalties.

Spoerri is a pioneer of the Swiss music scene in the fields of jazz, film music and electronic music. Over the past 70 years, he has performed on stages around the world. In 2017 he received the Swiss Jazz Award for his life’s work.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Former US general advises Switzerland to prepare for war

More

Former US general advises Switzerland to prepare for war

This content was published on According to former United States general Ben Hodges, the withdrawal of US troops from Europe is only a matter of time. In an interview with SonntagsBlick, he advises Switzerland to prepare for war.

Read more: Former US general advises Switzerland to prepare for war
Diccon Bewes

More

Swiss-British author Diccon Bewes dead at 57

This content was published on The author of the bestseller Swiss Watching and former member of SWI swissinfo.ch's Public Council, Diccon Bewes, died on March 11 after a battle with cancer.

Read more: Swiss-British author Diccon Bewes dead at 57
Bernese anti-separatists celebrate the vote of 16 March 1975

More

Anti-separatists in Bernese Jura mark 50th anniversary of crucial vote

This content was published on Anti-separatist circles celebrated in Tramelan (BE) on Saturday the 50th anniversary of the vote of 16 March 1975 in which the population of the Bernese Jura chose to remain part of the Bernese Confederation. The theme of the jubilee was the identity of the Bernese Jura after Moutier's departure.

Read more: Anti-separatists in Bernese Jura mark 50th anniversary of crucial vote
237 Swiss companies with CO2 reduction targets

More

Over 200 Swiss firms sign up to CO2 reduction targets

This content was published on To date, 237 companies from Switzerland have joined the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), committing to CO2 reduction targets in line with the Paris Accord.

Read more: Over 200 Swiss firms sign up to CO2 reduction targets

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR