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Beyoncé Named in Lawsuit Over Unauthorised Sample of 1998 House Track
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Beyoncé has been named in a copyright lawsuit over her Renaissance album — and the disputed source is a 1998 house track, a reminder of how deeply that record drew on dance music history.
Hirose Enterprise LLC and Shuji Hirose filed the complaint in the US District Court for the Central District of California on 10 August 2026, alleging that Renaissance track 'Alien Superstar' incorporates the spoken-word introduction from Foremost Poets' 'Moonraker' (by artist John Holiday) without permission.
A tangled rights history
The plaintiffs say they own the copyright to 'Moonraker', claiming Holiday transferred the rights to New York label Soundmen on Wax in 1998 — though the contract was reportedly lost in a 2005 burglary. They allege Beyoncé's company Parkwood released the song without a proper licence, then obtained a licence from Holiday in September 2022 that they argue was invalid, since he no longer held the rights to grant it.
Where it stands
The plaintiffs say they notified all parties back in January 2023, but the matter "remains unresolved" and the track continues to stream. No formal response from Beyoncé, Parkwood or Columbia Records has been reported.
It's another entry in dance music's increasingly busy year in the courts, following the ongoing AI-training lawsuit against Suno and Udio and the John Summit–Pete Tong remix dispute.
Read more: Beyoncé named as defendant in lawsuit over unauthorised sample of 1998 Foremost Poets house track
Photo by Ronald Woan (CC via Flickr)