Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber Sued for Copyright Infringement Over Hit “10,000 Hours”

Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber are being sued for copyright infringement over their 2019 single “10,000 Hours” and its alleged similarities to the 1973 song “The First Time Baby Is A Holiday,” written by Palmer Rakes and Frank Fioravanti.

Videos by American Songwriter

On April 21, International Manufacturing Concepts, Melomega music, and Sound Gems, who retain ownership of the song, sued Bieber and Dan + Shay due to similarities of “10,000 Hours”—featured on Dan + Shay’s 2021 album Good Things and co-written with Jessie Jo Dillon, Jordan Reynolds, and Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd—to “The First Time Baby Is A Holiday.”

The three companies are seeking credit on the track, along with monetary and statutory damages, and attorney fees, in addition to an injunction preventing further distribution of the song.

The suit states that the artists “stole the core portion,” of the song, which includes the chorus, verse, and hook from “The First Time Baby Is A Holiday,” and that there are “unmistakable similarities” between the two songs.

Though it was written in 1973, “The First Time Baby Is A Holiday” was first registered in 1980, then re-registered in 2014 and recorded after the song title was slightly changed.

In 2021, Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber won the Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for the song, along with two AMAs, an iHeartRadio Music Award, and a Billboard award in 2020. The video features each of their wives, including Bieber, who was newly married to Hailey Baldwin, sharing a kiss on a bed of flowers.

Dan + Shay are currently set to join Kenny Chesney on his Here And Now 2022 tour, while Bieber recently released his sixth album Justice in 2021 and had to postpone his The Justice World Tour after contracting COVID-19.

Photo: Dan + Shay (Warner Music Nashville); Justin Bieber (Def Jam Records)

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