For those of you that haven’t been keeping up with the news, in 2013 Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were accused of stealing the Marvin Gaye song ‘Got to Give it Up’ for their number one hit Blurred Lines and sued by Gaye’s children. After months of proceedings, the courts have come to a decision, awarding a record breaking $7.3 million payout to the Gaye estate ($4 million in damages and $3.3 million from profits earned).
Stemming from an interview with GQ, Thicke admitted that the duo intended to create something in the style of ‘Got to Give It Up’, the question for the 8 member jury was to decide if it was too similar. Thicke later went on to say that although he was credited with nearly a fifth of the publishing royalties he really had little to do with the song writing process due to on-going battles with drink and prescription drugs stating that Williams wrote ‘almost every part of the song’. However this did not stop the jury holding both Thicke and Williams liable for copyright infringement as the two main songwriters.
Jurors heard that Gaye’s music formed a part of Williams’ soundtrack growing up but he stated that he didn’t use it create Blurred Lines, testimonies from the two artists and various musicologists were also taken into account.
Although the ruling will more than likely face years of appeals an attorney for Thicke and Williams has stated that this decision could have a chilling effect on the musicians who try to emulate an era or another artist’s sound.
If you haven’t already compared the two songs, have a listen for yourself; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziz9HW2ZmmY
Finally, although the Gaye family are not looking to stop the track being downloaded / streamed, they are looking to agree a revenue share with Universal on future exploitation of the song.
To wrap up, if you create a song that resembles a particular style or artist, whatever you do, don’t tell the world that you intended to do it.
Sources;
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/10/blurred-lines-pharrell-robin-thicke-copied-marvin-gaye
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/robin-thicke-and-pharrell-lose-blurred-lines-lawsuit-20150310
