Todo sobre la polémica que se ha desatado en torno al dj y productor griego Mihalis Safras
No están siendo unos días tranquilos para el dj y productor Mihalis Safras. El artista griego ha sido acusado de haber estado copiando y usando samples de otros artistas para luego adjudicarse la autoría de algunos temas. Varios e importantes artistas como, Metodi Hristov o German Brigante se han pronunciado al respecto.
Hristov recibió un mensaje en el que se le advertía de que Safras había colgado en su cuenta de Soundcloud un tema inedito, que saldría a la venta en el sello Truesoul y que, sospechosamente, parecía sacada de varios temas suyos, las percusiones del principio de track ‘Basis’ con algo de filtro y del track ‘Infamous’ usaba las sirenas pero de manera invertida.
Inmediatamente después de recibir el mensaje Hristov abrio la cuenta de Soundcloud de Safras y comprobó que lo que decía el mensaje era cierto. Según palabras del propio Metodi, contactó con Safras, el cual trató de convencerle de que todo era trabajo suyo pero que quitaría las percusiones, ante lo cual Metodi Hristov se pregunta: si la percusiones fueran realmente suyas ¿por que iba a quitarlas?
Como decíamos al principio, el artista malagueño German Brigante también se ha pronunciado en este escandaloso asunto. German explica en unas declaraciones concedidas al medio change-underground, que cuando comenzó a lanzar música Material, sello de Mihalis Safras, fue uno de los primeros sellos importantes con los que trabajó, Dice que cada vez que lanzaba un track en el sello del griego, este siempre le preguntaba por las pistas originales y que, al preguntarle que por qué preguntaba por eso, Safras le contestaba que Beatport las necesitaba. Las ganas de lanzar música y la poca experiencia del dj y productor malagueño en aquel momento, le hizo cometer el error de confiar en Mihalis Safras según comenta el propio German Brigante.
Pero las declaraciones tanto de German Brigante y Metodi Hristov no surgen de la nada, salen en defensa del artista Tennan, quien fue el primero en acusar a Mihalis Safras de plagio.
Tennan explica que hace unos meses mando varias demos a través de Soundcloud a Safras hace varios meses. Hace poco, buscando en Beatport, Tennan encontró un nuevo lanzamiento de Mihalis Safras, lo escuchó e inmediatamente reconoció su sonido en el track. Mihalis habría sampleado y loopeado el track de Tennan añadiendo percusiones. Tennan colgó un video en el que comparaba los 2 temas y, poco despúes, Safras se puso en contacto con él mediante un mensaje de voz en el que reconocía que sacó el sample de su track porque, aparentemente, hubo en un error a la hora de nombrarlo y le ofreció agregar el nombre de Tennan en el remix.
Según cuenta Tennan, en ese momento se dio cuenta de que Safras le había intentado robar el tema. El equipo de Safras se puso en contacto con él para que eliminara todos los mensaje y videos que inculpaban al productor griego. Tennan afirma que ofreció resolver la polémica de una manera pacífica pidiéndole a Safras que se disculpara. También dice que en caso de que se hubiera disculpado habría borrado los videos.
Como era natural ante tan duras afirmaciones sobre Mihalis Safras por parte de tantos artistas, el aludido ha emitido un comunicado en redes sociales en el que, en resumen, reconoce haber tenido un descuido pero sin ninguna intención maliciosa.
«OFFICIAL STATEMENT REGARDING MIHALIS SAFRAS AND ALLIGATIONS OF MALPRACTICE
In relation to the recent allegations made on Social Media against Mihalis Safras, these appear to have been started and driven mainly by one individual by blowing up several genuine mistakes Mihalis has made in the past into a fully blown Social Media trolling campaign. There have been 6 issues identified and in reality, there are three genuine accounts of malpractice and all of these have been put right whereby any loops and baselines used without authorisation have been replaced alongside an offending track which was removed at the time when an issue was raised some months / years ago. There has not been a malicious approach or any financial gain in favour of Mihalis in relation to any of these three cases. Mihalis understands and accepts that there have been mistakes and misjudgements made after looking closely at what´s happened and he is now putting measures in place to avoid any further malpractice. Usually matters of this nature in the industry, and there are many of them, are dealt with privately with both parties cooperating to resolve any issues, in this case it has unfortunately not been dealt with in this way.
Mihalis is a genuine character who is generous to others and who in fact has donated most of his earnings to children´s hospital charities both in the UK and Greece. He is talented artist with a 16 year career in the industry making more than 300 tracks over this time. Please take account of his hundreds of successes and not focus on the 3 mistakes he has made with his releases.
Nobody should be on trial by social media and the bullying, abuse and harassment that he has received, seemingly from individuals hiding behind fake profiles, has caused an enormous amount of upset for his wife and young children, this is not acceptable and cannot be condoned. He has made mistakes and put them right and subsequently put measures in place to avoid future similar mistakes.
Whilst he is unable to post very much on social media due to legal reasons, he has made a statement below.
“You may or may not have been contacted by someone making accusations against my integrity as a producer, I am genuinely sorry that I have made some mistakes even though not intentional.
Firstly, that means owning up to an honest mistake: One of my recent remixes made use of an eight-bar loop—not a full track, as some people have mistakenly come to believe-I had sampled off a demo track an artist had sent me. I have no excuse. It was a complete oversight on my part. When going through my archives for samples I found a track that I liked that was unnamed. I should have been more thorough in searching my emails, messages and so on to see if I could find out where the track came from, but I didn’t. Because I have been ghost producing for years I have an awful lot of music on my computer and it isn’t arranged as well as it should be. This is not an excuse, but this is what lead to my honest mistake. In other accusations, I have been accused of completely ripping of a track and signing someone elses track to a label, the label has subsequently come forwards to accept the responsibility that a track uploaded in error and was taken straight down.
However, other accusations have been levelled at me that are wholly unfair. I can provide further details if required but would just like to reassure you that I am no crook. I understand the art of sampling and value the importance of personal relationships and trust in this industry. I have played hundreds of shows and made more than 300 tracks in my time, and this is the first and last time this has happened. I will learn from it and hope to continue to be a valued part of the scene”
Como dijo Metodi Hristov, vean el video colgado en Youtube ‘Safras Greatest Steal’ y juzguen ustedes mismos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4hHhtzyKh4
