German rapper 'Bushido' steals from American Gothic group Nox Arcana

The German rapper, Anis Mohamed Ferchichi, aka "Bushido" or "Sonny Black", is looking at international copyright infringement charges after having stolen music from the American Gothic group Nox Arcana. Bushido copied music from three of their songs: "Beyond Midnight" (copied by Bushido on "Weißt Du?"), "No Rest for the Wicked" (copied by Bushido on "Kurt Cobain") and "Cthulhu Rising" (copied by Bushido on "Blaus Licht"). The Nox Arcana songs appear on their albums "Darklore Manor" (2003) and "Necronomicon" (2004). Full details on what has been stolen can be found here. The Bushido album which holds the copied music is "Von der Skyline Zum Bordstein Zurück" (2006), which was re-released in 2007 after going Platinum in Germany. The band is taking legal action against the rapper and his label, Universal Music Group. According to Universal Music Group, the Bushido album containing Nox Arcana's musical compositions has sold over 216,000 copies in Germany.

It's not the first time the rapper is stealing from other bands. In November 2007, Norway's black metal band Dimmu Borgir threatened to sue Bushido for using their music without permission.

Bushido actually took Nox Arcana's recordings, including the complete melodies, arrangement and instrumentation, then simply rapped over top of the music. He also registered the music as his own. In the meantime the publisher of Nox Arcana music has also demanded that stores destroy the Bushido album or return it to the distributor for destruction. So far all major retailers that have been contacted have complied, including the worldwide removal of the Bushido albums from Amazon and iTunes. Also, GEMA (the German organization for the distribution of royalties) has frozen all of Bushido's royalties in regard to the three songs until further notice.

Nox Arcana is an American music group comprised of Joseph Vargo and William Piotrowski, best known for creating Gothic soundtracks, most often used in independent films and stage plays, in theme parks during Halloween, and for role-playing games. Nox Arcana have created 10 albums of original music in less than 5 years. Each album offers 21 songs. Nox Arcana's new release, "Phantoms of the High Seas", sets sail October 2008. More info at www.NoxArcana.com .