On this Music Thursdays, on a Friday, let’s talk about the Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams song “Blurred Lines.” And, does the song sound like the 1970’s song from Marvin Gaye called “Got to Give it Up.” Well, let’s have a listen to both songs.
So, does both songs sound like the same? That is what a jury in Los Angeles said, and they rewarded the family of Marvin Gaye $7.3 million. The jury said Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams committed copyright infringement by using elements of the 1977 Marvin Gaye song “Got to Give It Up” in their composition without proper credit. The weird thing about this whole case, is the jury only got to compare both songs with sheet music. They never got the chance to hear the songs.
I mean, which artists today composes their songs on sheet music, anyone? Today, music is mostly composed by computers, and no one uses sheet music to make a hit song you hear on the radio. So, why is our copyright laws modeled so where you can only make a decision via sheet music? On the other hand, are artists today running out of ideas on making music? I mean, another artist named Sam Smith had to settle with Tom Petty because Sam’s song called “Stay With Me” sounded like Tom’s song called “I Won’t Back Down.” Listen to those below.
Are we moving to an era where every artist will pick part every chorus and beat to a song to see if a similar chorus and beat is used in their song? I hope not! Today, sheet music can’t capture the tone, feel, and intensity of music. And there is only so much music that has been created, you are eventually going to hear some similar song or beat in a new song. For example, the new Fall Out Boy song “Uma Thurman” has the theme to The Munsters in it!
I guess we are moving to an era where everybody is clamoring for their piece of the pie. Yep, if a song has even one second of a similar chorus or sound from a classic song, expect to be sued and defending yourself in a courtroom. Maybe this will be the time for the music industry to try something new in music, instead of using the same old music tactics you hear on hit radio every day? How about a new type of music, because hearing the same thing over and over again is getting old!
Related articles
