Someone wants Mariah Carey to have a bad Christmas. It was reported Friday by TMZ that the singer is being sued for at least $20 million for copyright infringement by Andy Stone for her famous song “All I want for Christmas.” The songwriter claims he co-wrote and recorded a song called “All I Want For Christmas Is You” before Carey released her song under the same name that would go down in history.
According to the lawsuit obtained by TMZ, Stone believes his song inspired Carey’s, and he wants a part of her profits. He recorded his song in 1989 in Nashville, and the group Vince Vance & The Valiants recorded it and even made a music video.
Stone Claims it got extensive airplay and was on the Billboard charts in 1993 during the Christmas season. Carey released her song the following year.
Carey and Walter Afanasieff reportedly co-wrote the song in 15 minutes to develop the melody, song structure, and chords. It was completely composed in just a few hours, per NY Post.
The suit requested that Carey and Afanaseiife cease and desist further distribution of the song. “Despite Plaintiff’s request, Defendants continue to exploit Plaintiff’s work ‘All I Want for Christmas is You,’ reaping tremendous financial awards and other pecuniary benefits to the detriment of Plaintiff,” it read, per NY Post.
According to the documents, the co-writers knowingly infringed [Stone’s] copyright in the work, “To the commercial gain, personal profit and unjust enrichment of the defendants and the irreparable injury and financial loss” of Stone it continued.
It was reported by Forbes, that a 2016 study by The Economist found that Carey makes about $2.5 million per year for the song. According to the study, she made $60 million by 2016 from the song’s first release. So she may have made more than $72 million from just one song.
The Christmas classic, has since been covered by several artists, and Carey has released different versions, and music videos. In 2011, she even released a version with Justin Bieber and made a music video that now has 213.7 million views.
