Composer sues over Survivor theme

A CD featuring music from the show was released

Makers of American TV show Survivor are being sued by a composer who says his music was used in the theme tune without permission.

Paul Winter claims he did not give clearance for the samples from his 1987 Earthbeat album that were used in the theme, called Ancient Voices.

He is now demanding at least $800,000 (£552,000) from Russell Landau, who is credited as the theme's composer, and series producer Mark Burnett.

Richard Hatch won the first series' $1m prize

The theme became a hit with fans of the show, which tested contestants' survival skills on a Pacific island and in the Australian outback.

Winter says Ancient Voices includes parts of Earthbeat as well as Malaysian percussion and dance beats, and was used on both the original Survivor and Survivor II.

Earthbeat was a collaboration between Winter's new age band and a traditional Russian group, the Dimitri Pokrovsky Singers, and was nominated for a Grammy award.

Winter says he only gave Landau permission to use out-takes that did not end up on the final Earthbeat album.

New age

But the presence of music from the album means it is devalued, he argues.

Landau was quoted as saying the theme was "part of an ancient Russian folk song that I've totally bastardised'' by Entertainment Weekly in June.

He is a former member of Winter's band, which won a Grammy in 1995 for Best New Age Album.

Landau also put together the soundtracks for underwater sci-fi series' SeaQuest DSV and 2032, which earned him an Emmy award nomination.