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Post by blackbowl68 on Mar 11, 2015 23:57:17 GMT -5
JUST THE FACTS: A jury has ordered Robin Thicke & Pharrell Williams to pay $7.4 million to the estate of Marvin Gaye for copyright infringement one of his songs. It was concluded the duo's 2013 hit "Blurred Lines" was copied from Gaye's 1977 hit , "Got To Give It Up." Pharrell Williams has attested he cowrote the song drawing inspiration from Gaye's single. The jury determined he indirectly copied the song from GTGIU. Many in the music industry feel this will set a precedent that an artist can be sued simply by creating a song inspired by another artist(s). IN RELATED NEWS: The estate of Joe Raposo is prepared to file a performance rights lawsuit against the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon for blatant improper use of a song the late composer owns the copyright on: "If You're Happy And You Know It."  |
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Post by bestmusicexpert on Mar 12, 2015 4:51:19 GMT -5
I'm glad for the verdict.
When I first heard BL, I thought it was a sample, a cover or the original Marvin tune.
When I have played an event, once in a while, I play Marvin's tune to see the reaction. The kids get excited, then confused.
Plus them suing MG's estate the way they did made it obvious they knew they were guilty as hell!
Correct verdict!
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Post by blackbowl68 on Mar 12, 2015 7:32:53 GMT -5
Not to argue with the verdict, but unlike "Stay With Me" vs. "I Won't Back Down," what I hear are two completely different songs using a similar but far from identical musical arrangement. If that constitutes copyright infringement, then the whole recording industry as we know it is in for some serious trouble. I really do hope Thicke & Williams make some kind of appeal because this could be detrimental to all recording artists.
What I do find totally appalling is once the verdict was made public, several bloggers started calling Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams untalented hicks who make their money stealing music. Even calling them the new Milli Vanilli. This is going too far. Pharrell has been writing hits for more than twenty years. If this is untalented, then those bloggers should put their pens to paper and write their own hit song. I bet none of the them could write something better than Pharrell's worst.
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Post by 1finemrg on Mar 12, 2015 10:13:20 GMT -5
What I do find totally appalling is once the verdict was made public, several bloggers started calling Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams untalented hicks who make their money stealing music. Even calling them the new Milli Vanilli. This is going too far. Pharrell has been writing hits for more than twenty years. If this is untalented, then those bloggers should put their pens to paper and write their own hit song. I bet none of the them could write something better than Pharrell's worst. Though I do not keep up with today's music, I do concur with the above. Way back when, I just couldn't see George Harrison being subject to the same harassment when he lost a similar type of lawsuit with "My Sweet Lord". |
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Post by bestmusicexpert on Mar 12, 2015 13:17:16 GMT -5
Pharrel has written good ones. Bad thing to say about him. Thicke on the other hand... Hack-O-Rama!
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Post by trekkielo on Mar 14, 2015 0:01:28 GMT -5
What I do find totally appalling is once the verdict was made public, several bloggers started calling Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams untalented hicks who make their money stealing music. Even calling them the new Milli Vanilli. This is going too far. Pharrell has been writing hits for more than twenty years. If this is untalented, then those bloggers should put their pens to paper and write their own hit song. I bet none of the them could write something better than Pharrell's worst. Though I do not keep up with today's music, I do concur with the above. Way back when, I just couldn't see George Harrison being subject to the same harassment when he lost a similar type of lawsuit with "My Sweet Lord". Yeah, though the court called it "subconcious plagiarism" by George Harrison, he still must have gotten enough harassment to write "This Song" about his experience, a Top 25 hit around early 1977. |
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Post by trekkielo on Mar 14, 2015 11:01:32 GMT -5
Not to argue with the verdict, but unlike "Stay With Me" vs. "I Won't Back Down," what I hear are two completely different songs using a similar but far from identical musical arrangement. If that constitutes copyright infringement, then the whole recording industry as we know it is in for some serious trouble. I really do hope Thicke & Williams make some kind of appeal because this could be detrimental to all recording artists. Also, will Marvin Gaye's family sue Jeff Lynne over comments made by John Lennon from 41 years ago?  Then even more lawsuits come out of past rock critic album reviews saying this song sounds like or reminds them about that one and so on.  |
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Post by 1finemrg on Mar 14, 2015 19:47:52 GMT -5
Neil Diamond would have had a field day with "Cherry, Cherry"
- Romantics - What I Like About You
- John Mellencamp - R O C K in the USA
- John Cafferty/Beaver Brown Band - On The Dark Side
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Post by bestmusicexpert on Mar 24, 2015 14:06:25 GMT -5
Now Pharrell is crying because a verdict like this hurts creativity... Huh? Is he joking? If he was creative and came up with his own tune, (and not been stupid and preemptively sued Marvin's estate), he wouldn't have to worry.
Thicke is a hack, Pharrell is trying to join him!
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Post by BrettVW on Mar 24, 2015 14:24:54 GMT -5
Now Pharrell is crying because a verdict like this hurts creativity... Huh? Is he joking? If he was creative and came up with his own tune, (and not been stupid and preemptively sued Marvin's estate), he wouldn't have to worry. Thicke is a hack, Pharrell is trying to join him! No, I get that. At some point every artist has been inspired by another artist. Now, there are blurred lines (no pun intended) between creativity and copying the work of another. Artists will be concerned that this will happen when it is completely unintentional, and I do believe there are many instances where it is unintentional. Now with a verdict like this and artist will be leery to even record. I do get a little tired of the automatic bashing any artist or music (or AT40 host for that matter) that some on here are guilty of. Have tastes changed and musical stylings changed, absolutely. That is the nature of the beast. But I doubt many of you feel the same way about George Harrison, and I honestly hear more similarities between My Sweet Lord and He's So Fine than I do with this one. Just because it's not something you like it doesn't automatically mean it is the "crap" that many of you say it is. Is there some lousy music out there right now, of course. Are there some lousy songs on classic AT40 shows from the 70s and 80s, you bet. And what I think is lousy you may think is great, and vice versa. But I really get tired of the downright rudeness and bashing of current music, and for that matter, Ryan Seacrest's AT40 that some posters here have simply because it's current and is different. |
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Post by michaelcasselman on Mar 24, 2015 14:45:39 GMT -5
I've heard that the Gaye estate is also looking into going after Pharrell for 'Happy' as well. This will eventually be discovered to have had nothing to do with creativity or sampling or anything else, rather a quick cash grab from the Gaye family. Nona's attempt at a music career turned out to be less than spectacular, so all that's left is to milk Marvin's legacy.
It's not just Pharrell 'crying'about the verdict, either. If it were just him, I could see it as sour grapes... but many other artists (from different genres, not just R&B/rap/pop) have been scratching their head over the ruling and concerned over the precedent it could set.
Much of the bashing against 'Blurred Lines' likely originates from a general dislike of Thicke; his admission he was strung out on goofballs during it's recording and his generally skeezy demeanor around the ladies. To say 'Blurred Lines' ripped off Marvin Gaye is like saying Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heavy' ripped off the Police, or that Megahn Trainor ripped off any of a number of 60's girl groups/acts.
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Post by bestmusicexpert on Mar 24, 2015 16:34:28 GMT -5
While I firmly believe a lot of newer music is garbage and justifiably so, with all the reliance on samples and dirty disgusting lyrics... There are some good ones. Uptown Funk is good, as is Get Lucky, Cool Kids and a few others I am blanking on right now.
Robin can't write his own material, he's already being looked at for another song of his which sounds even MORE like a Marvin song. Pharrell isn't all bad but this whining about the verdict bothers me.
As for George Harrison, I see about the same amount of plagiarism in My Sweet Lord of He's So Fine that there is in Stay With Me of I Won't Back Down. The way the main title is sung being the main thing.
As for Ryan, I do not like the show because as an on air talent, well, to put it plainly, is no where near the level of Casey or even Shadoe for that matter. Heck, I dislike Rick Dees but even HE wipes the floor with Seacrest. AT40 is about the music and the story behind the song. Of course, other than talking about which song it ripped off or borrowed from, and other than Adele, there isn't a lot of stories to tell anymore.
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Post by blackbowl68 on Mar 24, 2015 19:19:41 GMT -5
And of course, we have someone here who has jumped on the "Artist Loses Lawsuit Because He Has No Talent" bandwagon.
All this was simply a copyright infringement of one song, not about the overall talent of the parties involved. A judge made his decision, but our court system doesn't get it right every time. Lord knows how many innocent men have been sentenced to life in prison only to be exonerated decades later.
But I agree with Pharrell's statement this could set a bad precedent in the music industry. An expert would analyze that statement. Only a critic would be irritated by it.
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Post by bestmusicexpert on Mar 25, 2015 12:44:03 GMT -5
As I said, Pharrell is fine... For now. He has shown his talent. Thicke on the other hand, has not. Stealing from someone repeatedly and using samples otherwise shows lack of creativity and talent.
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