Obscura is facing accusations of plagiarism with the release of their recent single ‘Evenfall.’ Exist members Alex Weber and Max Phelps have publicly accused Obscura’s Steffen Kummerer of taking musical ideas from Weber.
Weber took to social media after the release to accuse Kummerer of using his contributions without permission. Weber claims he had submitted the material for Obscura’s upcoming album, ‘A Sonication,’ but was assured it wouldn’t be used after his exit. To support his allegations, Weber posted a video comparing the two tracks.
In his statement, Weber wrote: “I’m sad to hear that the new Obscura tune contains melodies that I wrote and melodies that I did not give Steffen permission to use. Before we all left the band we got written confirmation that the material we contributed to the record would not be used but this video shows clearly that my melody was used note for note.”
“It would have been one thing if I was credited for this or had given him written permission to use it, but that was not the case. It’s not about money or even being that attached to the melody, it’s a matter of principle and intellectual property theft. I know because of deadlines, that Steffen was in a tough position when we all left the band but now I’m concerned that more of the music that Chris and I wrote for this album will still be used without our consent,” he continued.
“I’m always more for going the compassionate route but I don’t appreciate how this situation has been dealt with. It’s NOT ok to use someone else’s music regardless of how much or how little was used, especially without credit,” the rocker finished his statement.
Max Phelps backed Weber up in another post: “Alex brought the parts in question to the table a while ago and we had currently been working them into an Exist arrangement, so I’m personally very familiar with them. I would even argue that Alex undermined the extent of the plagiarism in his wording…it goes beyond the melody to the rhythmic ideas and development whenever that melody occurs. It’s not just the bassline, it’s the guitars and drum line as well.”
Phelps mentioned the parts that were stolen, and continued: “These were not Steffen’s to use and now he’s trying to blow Alex off by claiming that he ‘changed them dramatically.’ He didn’t…it’s not even remotely subjective and there are copyright violations all the time over musical ideas that are far bigger stretches.”
He ended his statement by making it clear that Kummerer has been a good friend to him, but there is nothing he can do since the tracks legally don’t belong to him.
Neither Obscura nor Steffen Kummerer has publicly addressed the allegations for now.
