Plagiarism

[Zombie]

Ed Sheeran has today won his breach of copyright case in New York against the estate of Marvin Gaye and his co-writer, Ed Townsend. Under US law only the sheet music is compared. But had his case been heard in England (where copyright protection law was first developed in Tudor times by Henry VIII) it seems likely he would have lost because under English law not just the music score would have been considered but also the production. Because it’s not just about the “chord progression”, where most pop songs follow well-used templates, but the “sound” of the songs as released and performed which makes songs distinctive, makes them “hits”.

Interestingly there is a “smoking gun” recording by a fan of a Sheeran gig where he performed a medley, melding Thinking Out Loud with Let’s Get It On.  In this performance he shows (shows off?) just how seamlessly the two songs, as released, can be combined because they both have the same “groove” and Sheeran was clearly proud to show how he took the classic Marvin Gaye hit in order to create his song. But, under US law, this would not have been admissible.

A Youtuber has made this comparison by essentially doing what Sheeran did at his gig

 

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by Zombie

[Ron]

I’m of the opinion that there’s nothing new under the sun.

[Zombie]

12 hours ago, Ron said:

I’m of the opinion that there’s nothing new under the sun.

I’m no bible scholar, but I believe King Solomon was expressing his boredom rather than perusing a patent application

It’s easy to believe this line but plenty of examples show otherwise. An early one from the music business is  J S Bach’s Das Wohltemperirte Clavier  (Well Tempered Clavier) - 24 preludes+fugues written in every key (24 - major and minor) to demonstrate the recently devised “equal temperament” tuning system (Pythagorean tuning quickly gets out of tune and restricts things like chord progressions). That was the first time this had been done.

And then about 20 years later (perhaps he was bored ) Mr Bach did it all over again 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Zombie

[Ron]

4 hours ago, Zombie said:

And then about 20 years later (perhaps he was bored ) Mr Bach did it all over again 

See, it was already done, nothing new.

[Ron]

In Twenty One Pilots' fourth studio album Blurryface, Tyler Joseph sings the following lyrics in the song Stressed Out: 

"I wish I found some better sounds no one's ever heard

I wish I had a better voice that sang some better words

I wish I found some chords in an order that is new

I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang"

So, it's no wonder that Ed Sheeran produced something close to what had already been done. Led Zepplin went through this not too long ago when accused of copying a part of a 1968 song by Spirit, they won their case, too.

[ReaderPaul]

A good example is Simply Red's song "Sunrise" which took Daryl Hall & John Oates song "I Can't Go for That" and put "Sunrise" on top of that, even taking a few of the same words at one point in the middle of "Sunrise" from "I Can't Go For That" -- 

Easy, Ready, Willing, Overtime -- (first time in song, in intro, Hall sings "Easy, Willing, Overtime" -- second time adds "Ready")
Where does it stop, where do I draw the line --
You've got the body, now you want the soul--
Don't even think about it, say 'No go" --

The musical introductions are slightly different to "I Can't Go for That" and "Sunrise", but the music is so close I cannot tell any significant differences.  John Oates in an interview said that chord changes can't be copyrighted (implied-- can't be copyrighted in the US) -- "Or Chuck Berry would be a gazillionaire!"

[MJ85]

6 hours ago, ReaderPaul said:

A good example is Simply Red's song "Sunrise" which took Daryl Hall & John Oates song "I Can't Go for That" and put "Sunrise" on top of that, even taking a few of the same words at one point in the middle of "Sunrise" from "I Can't Go For That" -- 

Easy, Ready, Willing, Overtime -- (first time in song, in intro, Hall sings "Easy, Willing, Overtime" -- second time adds "Ready")
Where does it stop, where do I draw the line --
You've got the body, now you want the soul--
Don't even think about it, say 'No go" --

The musical introductions are slightly different to "I Can't Go for That" and "Sunrise", but the music is so close I cannot tell any significant differences.  John Oates in an interview said that chord changes can't be copyrighted (implied-- can't be copyrighted in the US) -- "Or Chuck Berry would be a gazillionaire!"

That is specifically a sample, where it's made overt that at least parts of the already-existing song are being re-used in the new one, and the creators of the previous song are credited.

See also: "I'll Be Missing You" sampling "Every Breath You Take", "SOS" sampling "Tainted Love", "Fantasy" sampling "Genius of Love" - just to name a few.