Opinion ID: 2977607
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Plaintiffs’ creation of “Party Ain’t Crunk”

Text: The song alleged to have been infringed in this suit, “Party Ain’t Crunk,” was recorded by an aspiring rap artist named Tim Acker, also known as “Benevolence.” Acker is not a party to the suit. In 2000, White met Acker and became his manager. White eventually registered “Party Ain’t Crunk” with the United States Copyright Office and is listed as an author of the song. Jones, an occasional collaborator of White’s, shares an interest in any revenues from “Party Ain’t Crunk” under a contractual agreement with White. Jones introduced White to Dannie Longmire, the producer who created the music for “Party Ain’t Crunk.” “Party Ain’t Crunk” was written and recorded as follows: Sometime before Christmas of 2000, White contacted Longmire and asked him to create musical tracks for Acker to use in making a demo CD. Longmire created a number of “beat tracks”—beats without melodies—and sent them to White around Christmas of 2000. Acker selected a Nos. 07-1051/1566 Jones et al. v. Blige et al. Page 3 number of beat tracks he liked, and Longmire began creating melodies to add to them. In March of 2001, Longmire created a melody, added it to one of the beat tracks, and named the resulting song (for record-keeping purposes) “Jack 216”—this was essentially the nonlyrical portion of “Party Ain’t Crunk.” In March or April of 2001, White and Acker met at Longmire’s home, which contained a recording studio. Over the course of five days, Acker recorded lyrics over the musical tracks Longmire had created, including the lyrics to “Party Ain’t Crunk,” which White and Acker co-wrote. Following the week of recording, Longmire completed the technical polishing of the songs on the demo CD. On May 7, 2001, White registered the CD and its contents, including “Party Ain’t Crunk,” with the Copyright Office under the title “Benevolent Vol. 1.”