Eagles’ Don Henley threatens to sue Frank Ocean over “Hotel California” sample

Tumblr post about Don Henley of The Eagles by @frankocean. FRANK OCEAN. OFWG. KTA. LINK.

Tumblr: @frankocean.

The Eagles co-founder Don Henley—through his music label Rhino—sent Frank Ocean a cease-and-desist letter related to his 2011 track “American Wedding,” which prominently samples his rock band’s 1976 song “Hotel California.” The legal notice instructs him to stop singing it at live shows, remove it from everywhere online, and “release a statement expressing his admiration for Mr. Henley.”

Ocean feels this was an excessive reaction and shared his thoughts on Tumblr. He says he hasn’t made any money from “American Wedding” since releasing it for free with his 2011 album Nostalgia Ultra, and that Henley was punching down on the “new guy,” writing:

DON HENLEY(’S LABEL—RHINO) IS APPARENTLY INTIMIDATED BY MY RENDITION OF HOTEL CALIFORNIA.

He (They) threatened to sue if I perform it again. I think that’s f-ckin awesome. I guess if I play it at Coachella, it’ll cost me a couple hundred racks. If I don’t show up to court, it’ll be a judgment against me and will probably show up on my credit report. Oh well. I try to buy my sh-t [with] cash anyway. They also asked that I release a statement expressing my admiration for Mr. Henley, along with my assistance [in] pulling it off the web as much as possible. Sh-t’s weird. Ain’t this guy rich as f-ck? Why sue the new guy? I didn’t make a dime off that song. I released it for free. If anything, I’m paying homage.

Don Henley (alongside Glenn Frey) co-wrote the lyrics for “Hotel California,” although former bandmate Don Felder wrote the music sampled in “American Wedding.” Henley has legal standing as a songwriter, but Ocean finds it “weird” that he personally asks for praise (over that of his band or its members) from a relative ‘nobody’ in comparison, when he views the rendition itself as a harmless expression of his admiration. Felder and other Eagles have remained silent on the mixtape, as have all other sampled artists, including MGMT, Coldplay, and Mr Hudson. At the very least, Ocean did not take credit for the musicians’ work, listing everyone in the liner notes attached to his free album, including Henley and the Eagles.

Check out the instrumental credits for Nostalgia Ultra, and listen to “Hotel California” below.

Nostalgia Ultra beat credits, feat. “D. Henley” and others (Tumblr: @frankocean, 2011).

“Hotel California” by the Eagles (Album: Hotel California, 1976).

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Henley (via his music label Rhino) sent Ocean a letter instructing him to stop performing the 2011 Nostalgia Ultra track “American Wedding,” which samples his rock band’s 1976 song. The notice also asks him to take it offline and publicly “express his admiration for Mr. Henley.” In a Tumblr post, Ocean describes this as an overreaction to an “homage” from which he hasn’t profited.

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