The very first time I heard “Blurred Lines,” performed by Robin Thicke with Pharrell and TI—all three credited with writing the song—I thought, “Sounds like Marvin Gaye’s ‘Got To Give It Up’—awesome!”
So it was no surprise to me when, after a year-plus legal battle featuring suits and counter-suits by the surviving Gaye family and the ones in the Thicke of it, a jury awarded in favor of Team Gaye—to the tune of $7.3 million. That’s more than the 2,000-plus new bands who just performed at SXSW will earn in total in the next 3 years! (I made that up.)
Of course, the defendants will appeal, so who knows where things will finally settle. But under any circumstances, it ends up being a blemish on the Thicke side. Because Marvin Gaye was more than a successful R&B/soul singer. He’s a legend, an influencer, a voice for the ages…and he’s dead. Sacrilege.
I found this entertaining “mashup” of the two songs on YouTube. Enjoy the dance!
Music journalists, artists, lawyers, publishers and label people are wringing their hankies—or waving them—over the verdict. Many saying, to quote Marvin, “Right on, brother”. And others suggesting it’s the end of creativity in songwriting. The end of taking chances—musicians will be scared of getting sued!
To which I would say, “Shut phone off and write something original.” Such as this column, which is derivative of 15 other columns on the same topic! As a member of the Association of Music Producers—AMP—since its founding 18 years ago, I have worked with my colleagues to educate creatives, producers and composers alike on the legal risks inherent when attempting to write something that “sounds kind of like” something else. Because somebody will notice. Somebody with a good copyright attorney. Who will follow the money…and discover that, in most cases, a large advertiser would rather “settle” than go to court to fight an artist in public. It just doesn’t look right, does it? So now you have an artist with an unexpected payday in an era of shrinking retail music sales—thank you!
Another recent settlement involving two mega-hits: Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” and Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down.” The chorus melodies of these two great songs are virtually identical and when this was brought to the attention of Sam’s label, no legal action was required. It was an “Oops” moment and Petty and his co-writer Jeff Lynne got writing credits on “Stay With Me”, which won the Grammy for “Song Of The Year” and everyone lived happily ever after, with a whole lot of money to share. Here’s what Mr. Petty posted, in part, on his website: “All my years of songwriting have shown me these things can happen. Most times you catch it before it gets out the studio door but in this case it got by. Sam’s people were very understanding…and we easily came to an agreement.” Class act. Case closed.
In the past, copyright infringement cases were largely determined by similarities in the sequence of notes in the melody line(s). But over the years those lines have blurred (pun intended). No matter how juries are “instructed,” courts will take into consideration intent and inevitably ask themselves the simple question, “Do these two things sound alike?” It could be the melody line. It could be the configuration, tempo and “feel” of the rhythm track. Could be the meter of the vocal and how it is performed. A Supreme Court Justice famously stated “I shall not attempt to define ‘hard-core pornography’…But I know it when I see it..” (I’ve abbreviated.) And so it often is with music: I know it when I hear it.
A song that honors its influences but creates something of its own is Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk” featuring Bruno Mars and his killer band. You MUST dance to this thing, which is exactly what our First Lady did on "Ellen" recently. Smoking hot! The boys definitely owe some shout-outs to Prince, Average White Band and Earth, Wind & Fire (for starters) as “influencers”. But check out this EW&F classic for the groove…and the apparel.
Now, want to check out OUR industry’s best original music, “covers” AND licensed songs? Get yourself a ticket to the third annual AMP Awards for Music and Sound, May 5th at City Winery in NYC—Cinco de Mayo! You can do it by clicking here. And if you’ve got brilliant work to enter in the AMP Awards, Click here. This is the first industry forum for the recognition of excellence in music and sound for advertising, branding and media in the U.S. And I promise you, it’s our industry’s loudest celebration of the year. Copy that.
Lyle Greenfield is the founder of Bang Music and past president of the Association of Music Producers (AMP)
