Honestly, I think if I wrote something significant enough that I got sued for it - that's probably a VERY good sign about my own prospects and future as a musician.
Lil Nas X was completely independent when he created Old Town Road with a complete copy & paste of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's music. So even in cases of absurdly blatant copyright infringement the artist might still do okay !
You don't have to be large or even get sued for them to affect you. Gyu Beats had a video where he recreated Aphex Twin's "Ageispolis" from scratch. And Die Antwoord's label copyright-claimed all revenue from that video because Die Antwoord sampled Ageispolis (unedited, with permission). It's likely an automated copyright claim, but does that make it any better?
If Aphex Twin copyright-claimed the song that would be another thing. But this is like if someone else sampled Ghosts 34 and Lil Nas X claimed original copyright ownership of the sample.
You can argue legal merits all day but the reality is the little guy doesn't have much chance against FAANG lawyers without a lot of financial backing from elsewhere
That is part of the rules required of distribution sites like YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, etc., as defined in US law as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA). Hence the name "DCMA Takedown Notice".
The Reznor/Ross track that Old Town Road was built from carries a Creative-Commons Non-Commercial license.
But Old Town Road is obviously commercial. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross currently receive a significant portion of the royalties (more than Lil Nas X!).
> Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross currently receive a significant portion of the royalties (more than Lil Nas X!).
Do you have any source on this? Reznor has stayed mostly quiet about Old Town Road aside from mentioning it was strange at first but he doesn't really mind it. They worked out a deal but I don't think the terms were ever made public. Could he have demanded a large share of the royalties? Sure. But do you have proof he did?
Until 2019, 100% of the royalties for the song "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve, released in 1997 and their most recognizable song, went to the Rolling Stones. The Verve sampled the distinctive repeating string theme in that song from the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time", released in 1965. The Verve even got permission to use the riff from the 'Stones record label prior to releasing "Bitter Sweet Symphony."
Song writers backed by huge companies are doing fine, but what about independent producers?