Pop sensation Dua Lipa is facing a $2 million lawsuit filed by music producer Bosko Kante, who claims he is owed a substantial sum for his contribution to her chart-topping hit, 'Levitating'. The lawsuit, filed against Lipa, Stephen Kozmeniuk (known as Koz), and Warner Music Group, accuses the defendants of copyright infringement and breach of contract.
Kante, a renowned music producer, mechanical engineer, and one of the world's top talk box artists, is also the founder of ElectroSpit. The company designs and manufactures the mobile talk box, a device that allows musicians to modify the sound of a musical instrument by shaping the frequency content of the sound and applying speech sounds.
In 2019, Koz, one of the producers of 'Levitating', approached Kante to create and perform a talk box performance using his device for the track. Kante claims that he composed, created, and recorded his performance on the ElectroSpit Talk Box, which included original melodies and lyrics.
However, Kante alleges that despite multiple attempts to reach a licensing agreement over the use of his performance in 'Levitating', no written agreement was ever executed. He further claims that he was promised his sample would only be used for 'Levitating' and that no other uses of his work would be allowed, nor would Lipa own a portion of his track.
The lawsuit states that Kante was to be paid $1,500 plus a share of the royalties. While he admits to orally agreeing to license his work for 'Levitating', he insists no contract was in place. The issue escalated when his composition was used on a remix with Madonna and another remix with DaBaby, which he claims he never authorized.
Kante argues that the remixes were more successful than the original, which reduced his royalties for the work. He is now demanding $2 million in damages plus all profits Lipa and the defendants have made from 'Levitating', which he believes will be in excess of $20 million.