£79 million!?!...

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BeardyAndyBeardyAndy Frets: 716
Soon no one will want to release a single for fear of it sounding a little bit like something else!

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/04/lets-get-it-on-jury-to-rule-on-whether-ed-sheeran-copied-marvin-gaye


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Comments

  • HattigolHattigol Frets: 8176
    In fairness, every time I have heard that song come in the radio (which has been way too often), my first thought has always been 'oh, a remix of Let's Get It On'.

    It's blatant. Think he has form for this and has paid out previously for another rip-off?
    "Anybody can play. The note is only 20%. The attitude of the motherf*cker who plays it is  80%" - Miles Davis
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  • duotoneduotone Frets: 971
    Guilty imo.
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  • BeardyAndyBeardyAndy Frets: 716
    edited January 2019
    But to ask 100% royalties? He hasn’t covered the song!
    I just think it’s all a bit ott.
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    Here is the original songwriters version


    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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  • joeyowenjoeyowen Frets: 4025
    It isn't his first

    Listen the Chorus of these two (Amazing was written first)


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  • TheMarlinTheMarlin Frets: 7744
    It's not close enough for £79m!!

    If led Zep can get away with it, then he should be able to. Good luck to him. 
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  • FretwiredFretwired Frets: 24601
    This is just greed. Musicians have always borrowed. Ian Anderson hit the right note with the Eagles - was Hotel California a rip off of a Jethro Tull song? He said it's similar and they toured so the Eagles heard the song. When asked if he'd sue he said no, never. Great band, great song good luck to them. A mature attitude. This sort of thing will kill music.

    Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71959
    Fretwired said:

    Ian Anderson hit the right note with the Eagles - was Hotel California a rip off of a Jethro Tull song? He said it's similar and they toured so the Eagles heard the song.
    Not this again... Don Felder wrote the chord progression for Hotel California, and he wasn't in the band when the Eagles toured with Tull - it's pure coincidence that they sound similar. If Anderson *had* sued, that fact would have been brought up and it would have been thrown out.

    In my opinion the Ed Sheeran song is a rip-off - deliberate or not, I don't know. George Harrison still lost even when his copying of The Chiffons 'He's So Fine' was ruled as unintentional.

    There's a legitimate right to borrow, and a blatant copy which deserves the original writer being credited, and they're not the same.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • DefaultMDefaultM Frets: 7271
    edited January 2019
    Unintentionally copying a song is one thing, but when its 3 or 4 songs I start to think he's just trying his luck. Nick a bit, and if anyone notices get the chequebook out.
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  • HattigolHattigol Frets: 8176
    The reason it is so high is because he did it without permission. That is to encourage people to seek permission. There is no way he could not have realised the similarities but he (or his record company) chose to put it out. It makes sense to impose high sanctions when permission isn't given.

    IIRC, The Verve got zero royalties at all for Bittersweet Symphony because they nicked the Andrew Loog Oldham/Stones loop for the intro. 
    "Anybody can play. The note is only 20%. The attitude of the motherf*cker who plays it is  80%" - Miles Davis
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  • darthed1981darthed1981 Frets: 11670
    Hattigol said:
    IIRC, The Verve got zero royalties at all for Bittersweet Symphony because they nicked the Andrew Loog Oldham/Stones loop for the intro. 
    Yup, and Noel Gallagher had to take "Step Out" off WTSMG shortly before release because he had nicked the tune from "Uptight" by Stevie Wonder.

    Ed Sheeran is individually talented and has done well, but as a "package" he's the latest Robbie Williams, someone needs to pay the bills so more "exciting" music can get released.  However because of that, his songs are always going to get "packaged" and some of that packaging will be from very unimaginative pop producers.

    I'm still amazed Robbie Williams got away with Let Me Entertain You to be honest.  It's so similar to Pinball Wizard.  Perhas the Who didn't give a toss.

    Ironically, the best at it by far was Noel G, who used to take someone else's idea (like taking the chord sequence from "Let It Be" and doing his own thing with it for DLBIA) and do his own thing with it.  He only got knobbled twice, with "Whatever" where it was too similar to a Rutles song, and the aforementioned "Step Out".

    You can run with a melodic idea, or a chord sequence, but it seems not if that is what makes the song unique or memorable.
    We have to be so very careful, what we believe in...
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71959
    edited February 2019

    You can run with a melodic idea, or a chord sequence, but it seems not if that is what makes the song unique or memorable.
    I think a simple test of it is whether, when you hear the copy, you hear the rest of the original in your head. If so, it’s probably too close. I know this isn’t the legal definition!

    But it certainly applies with a few I can think of, including Harrison’s My Sweet Lord, the Robin Thicke Marvin Gaye rip-off, and whatever the Sam Smith one was called that was Petty’s I Won’t Back Down.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • I started thinking... not another Bonamassa ticket prices thread...
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  • Freebird said:
    Here is the original songwriters version


    Well it's not often I'll say this, but I much prefer Sheeran to that rendition
    Please note my communication is not very good, so please be patient with me
    soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
    youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
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