How The Kite String Tangle And Fred Again.. Accidentally Sampled The Same Track

The Kite String Tangle’s Danny Harley has revealed how he and UK producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and DJ Fred again.. inadvertently ended up releasing songs that sampled the same track.

The tunes in question — The Kite String Tangle’s NORTH, which was released in 2020 and Fred again..’s Billie (Loving Arms) which dropped in 2021 — both sampled 1994’sYour Loving Arms by German singer Billie Ray Martin, the former lead singer of Electribe 101.

In a TikTok video posted on August 8, Harley explained how both he and Fred ended up with tunes using Martin’s sample.

“Fred again.. stole my sample. Well, not really, but kind of..” the Brisbane electronic artist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer said in the video.

He went on to explain, “So back in 2017, I wrote this track called NORTH and I used the sample by this artist. In music when you use a sample of another song, it's going to be approved by whoever owns the master. After three years of countless efforts and email threads to get the sample cleared, we didn’t.”

“But one person we did manage to get ahold of was Billy Ray Martin herself, who so kindly gave us a re-recording of the vocals for us to use.

@thekitestringtangle

Hearing that @Fredagainagain chose the same sample makes me feel like I’m doing something right! #FredAgain #Billie #lovingarmsremix #samples

♬ Billie (loving arms) - Fred again..

“I was so excited to play it at live shows and hear the crowd singing the sample back to me. Then in 2021 and Fred again.. drops a fresh new track. The title looks kind of familiar. Songs sound kind of familiar,” he continued, referencing the muso’s Billie (Loving Arms).

“Oh, well. But now I can sleep at night knowing I walked So Fred again.. could run and this song got the moment it deserved.”

“And that's the story of how Fred again.. stole my sample,” he concluded.