by Cari Cole
Well, another week in music copyright hell that made history. The copyright case of Blurred Lines has unfortunately irrevocably left it’s mark.
The New York Times said “On Tuesday, a federal jury in Los Angeles concluded that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, the performer and primary songwriter-producer of the 2013 pop hit “Blurred Lines,” committed copyright infringement by using elements of the 1977 Marvin Gaye song “Got to Give It Up” in their composition without proper credit. The “non-musician” jury awarded Mr. Gaye’s family approximately $7.3 million, a combination of profits from the song and damages.” How is this right? For the full article provided in the links below.
How ironic is it that the name of the song causing the heated controversy and disruption to the already blurred lines of music copyright, is aptly titled “Blurred Lines.” It couldn’t have been any more of a blurred lines case.
Is the already slippery sliding slope of music copyright now being rewritten by such copyright court cases? There was a time when it was clear – melody and lyrics, 8 bars of either was copyright infringement. There was no such thing as copyright claims for “grooves” or “production elements” or the “feel” of a sound recording. What comes next, chord progressions?
As a songwriter and music maker, the problem with the “blurred lines” case is now we have more to worry about and that can sure crimp one’s songwriting session. What to do?
How the heck can a songwriter not be influenced by the music we hear throughout our lives? Is what we think is an original melody really new or is it just lingering in our brain from the past? How can you possibly have heard all the songs in the universe to know whether yours is original or not?
You can’t. You just have to write, stay positive, don’t steal music and pray that you’ll never fall into a situation like that. And if it does happen, it’s easy – just settle quickly out of court, don’t be greedy and take your ego completely out of the situation. Take a lesson from Sam Smith and his team who immediately granted songwriting credit to Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne for an unintentional copyright infringement. That’s class (see article in Rolling Stone below).
Thankfully, big cases like these are fairly infrequent (most settle out of court). If people would just focus on creating great music instead of who to sue.
Now can we all get back to making great music and trusting our instincts and integrity. You’re as good as your word people!
Read up on the Blurred Lines court case:
New York Times
Billboard
Huffington Post
Sam Smith + Tom Petty’s copyright case (settled out of court amicably):
Rolling Stone
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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