Artist Accuses Katy Perry of Stealing Artwork for “Chained to the Rhythm”
A visual artist has accused Katy Perry of using his artwork without permission on merchandise items and as single artwork. London-based artist Dom Sebastian is claiming that the background artwork for an iteration of Katy's single "Chained to the Rhythm" from her 2017 album Witness is a copy of one of his previous pieces.
In an interview with Paper, Dom explained that during a recent session of Spotify shuffling, he stumbled across the artwork for Katy's single "Chained to the Rhythm" and noted the similarities between one of his pieces. He posted the art in question on his Instagram, alleging that Katy and her team "has stolen my artwork."
Dom's piece is from a 2012 collection he created called the "Holographic Melt Series." He told Paper that series became "quite popular online" and the trend of holographic melt/holographic glitch artwork has gained popularity with Internet users in the years after.
On his Instagram post, he wrote, "I'm shocked that Katy Perry and Capital Records think it is acceptable to lift my work directly from my website and use it as they please without paying me or even contacting me." He said to Paper that neither Katy or Capitol Records had been in touch with him regarding the single artwork, which has also been used for merchandise items. Since coming across the alleged use of his artwork, Dom has reached out to Capitol Record through social media but hasn't heard back.
Dom explains that artists receive copyright protection as soon as they create the artwork. According to the U.S. Copyright Office website, "Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device." But Dom says that "there is no respect on the Internet for artists' work."
Teen Vogue has reached out to Capitol Records for a comment.
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