Crush 40 Musician Is Suing Sega Over Sonic Adventure 2 Theme, 'Live And Learn'

Image: SEGA

Johnny Gioeli, the Crush 40 musician and singer behind the iconic Sonic Adventure 2 track 'Live and Learn', is suing SEGA of America over breach of contract for the song's repeated use throughout the Sonic series (thanks, Polygon).

According to Gioeli's lawsuit (via Polygon), filed to the District Court of Southern California earlier this month, the musician claims that SEGA has no right to any part of the song other than the lyrics and that he was not aware of the track's repeated use outside of its 2001 Dreamcast origins.

The lawsuit claims that this means that Gioeli has not been correctly compensated for 'Live and Learn' in the ensuing 23 years — the musician's lawyer lists the damages for the breach of contract and the unpaid royalties at at least $500,000 each.

It all comes down to who holds ownership of the song's master copy. Gioeli, naturally, claims it is him, with the musician recalling that he worked solely with SEGA composer Jun Senoue on the track's development under the name 'Crush 40' (formerly 'Sons of Angels'). According to the lawsuit, Gioeli “controlled and oversaw the recording process, produced the recording, directed the arrangement and of the song, directed the recording progress for other musicians, and recorded and performed the vocals.” Basically, the only other person involved was Senoue.

Gioeli's lawyers claim that the musician has “maintained and registered” the song in the time since the game's release via licensing agency BMI, where he is co-credited as its writer alongside Senoue.

While the Crush 40 singer reportedly wasn't aware of the song's reappearance in the likes of Smash Bros. Brawl, Sonic X Shadow Generations and Sonic Frontiers (it took a fan telling him, apparently), Gioeli did confirm to Aftermath back in February that he had given Paramount Pictures permission to use the track in the upcoming movie, Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

The musician released the following statement to Polygon, where he stressed the importance of maintaining a "long standing beautiful relationship with Sega":

I have no comment other than my desire to maintain the preservation of a long standing beautiful relationship with Sega. I do not want fans to draw conclusions or be disrupted from the beautiful memories we have made collectively with this music. I believe and hope we will come to a peaceful settlement that will be fair and just.

We'll be keeping an eye on this one to see just how "peaceful" the settlement turns out to be.

In related news, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 arrives in cinemas worldwide from tomorrow (20th December). A few outlets have already been lucky enough to see what goes down in this third series instalment, and you can find our review round-up below.