New lawsuit seeks to end distribution of song
Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber are being sued for copyright infringement over their massive hit “10,000 Hours.” TMZ has obtained the lawsuit filed by Melomega, the copyright holders of the song “First Time Baby is a Holiday,” claiming the trio copied the chorus, verse and hook and “tried to pass it off as their own.”
“First Time” was originally written by Palmer Rakes and Frank Fioravanti in 1973, but wasn’t released until 2014, five years before the country pop crossover hit was issued via Warner Music Nashville. Dan + Shay and Bieber wrote their song with Jessie Jo Dillon, Jordan Reynolds, and Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd.
Melomega is seeking royalties, credit and injunction to prevent further distribution of “10,000 Hours” by Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney and Bieber. The songwriters, publishes and Warner Music Nashville are among the defendants named in the suit.
Upon its release in October 2019, “10,000 Hours” broke many records which included obtaining the biggest first-week streaming total in country music history and becoming the fastest country song to reach one million US track equivalents in 2019, earning over 3.3 million US track equivalents at the time. The single has surpassed two billion streams worldwide.
The song has been certified 4x Platinum by the RIAA for sales and streams equivalent of four million. “10,000 Hours” is the first song by a country duo or group ever to debut in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 5 and spent 21 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs (fourth longest run in chart history). The worldwide smash has achieved 2x platinum certification in Australia and Canada, platinum certification in the Netherlands, and gold certification in four other countries.
Neither Dan + Shay, Bieber not their labels have commented publicly on the matter.
