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https://theconversation.com/inspiration-influence-and-theft-what-the-ed-sheeran-case-can-tell-us-about-70-years-of-pop-music-204747>
"Earlier today, a US court ruled in favour of singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran,
agreeing his song
Thinking Out Loud did not breach musical copyright.
The high-profile court case, brought by the estate of soul singer Marvin Gaye,
claimed Sheeran’s song was too similar to Gaye’s song
Let’s Get It On.
On the stand, Sheeran defended his songwriting process, stating: “I draw
inspiration from a lot from things in my life and family.”
Sheeran’s case brought up some difficult questions around what we understand as
inspiration and influence, and what we may hear as theft.
Musical copyright cases are part of songwriting history. Radiohead’s
Creep
was found to be too similar to the Hollies’
The Air That I Breathe, and in
2018, Lana Del Rey’s
Get Free was found to plagiarise
Creep.
Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars altered the credits to
Uptown Funk to acknowledge
the similarity to The Gap Band’s
Oops Upside Your Head.
Here in Australia, the flute solo in Men at Work’s
Down Under, which quoted
the melody of folk song
Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree, was ruled as
plagiarism.
In this case against Sheeran, the song’s chord progression was at the heart of
the claim. The prosecution argued Sheeran’s chord progression was too similar
to the chord progression of Gaye’s.
But can we copyright a chord progression if it is used extensively in other pop
songs?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
