Blind Cafe Radio Presents: Naked DJ's Podcast # 25
On this month’s episode of the Naked DJ’s podcast we first start out by discussing Ed Sheeran’s copywrite litigation issues. After a London judge ruled last week that Ed Sheeran’s chart-topping 2017 hit “Shape of You” didn’t infringe the copyright of an earlier song, the pop superstar sounded more exhausted than celebratory.
“I just want to say: I’m not an entity, I’m not a corporation, I’m a human being and a father and a husband and a son,” Sheeran said in a video statement posted to Instagram. “Lawsuits are not a pleasant experience and I hope that this ruling means in the future baseless claims like this can be avoided.”
If Sheeran is tired of litigation, it’s hard to blame him.
In 2016, he was accused of stealing “Photograph” from an earlier song called “Amazing." Sheeran quickly settled that case but has since said he regrets doing so and believes that it may have opened the “floodgates” to more lawsuits. Then in 2018, he was hit with another copyright case over "The Rest of Our Life," a song he co-wrote that was recorded by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. And he’s been litigating for five years and counting over allegations that he copied his "Thinking Out Loud" from Marvin Gaye’s iconic "Let's Get It On.”
In the recent UK lawsuit, an artist named Sami Chakri and a music producer Ross O’Donoghue claimed that “Shape of You” – a huge hit that spent 12 weeks atop the Hot 100 – lifted material from their 2015 song called “Oh Why.” The pair said the "Oh I, Oh I, Oh I" in Sheeran’s song was “strikingly similar” to an "Oh why, Oh why, Oh why" in their track.
But in a ruling on Wednesday, the judge sided decisively with Sheeran. He ruled there was no evidence that Sheeran had intentionally or “subconsciously” copied the earlier song, and that the two phrases “play very different roles in their respective songs.” He said the allegedly copied portion was “so short, simple, commonplace and obvious” that it simply “is not credible that Mr. Sheeran sought out inspiration from other songs to produce it.”
In the wake of the decision, Sheeran lamented not only the personal toll the case had taken on him, but also the prevalence of such cases, saying they are filed with “the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court” even when there’s no merit to the allegations.
“It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry,” Sheeran said. “There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify.”
If you've been following music laws for the past decade, Sheeran’s complaints should sound familiar.
In the years since the controversial “Blurred Lines” trial, many lawyers and musicians have warned about the impact that ever more copyright lawsuits will have on musical creativity. Artists and companies have become “paranoid” about infringement suits, seeking out forensic musicologists to assess their work and taking out errors and omissions insurance policy. In 2018, the Recording Industry Association of America – no softie on copyright policy – filed a brief warning that infringement rulings threatened to "overprotect" existing music at the expense of the next generation.
Now those same critiques are coming from one of the world’s top pop stars. In an interview with BBC Two’s Newsnight, Sheeran said he now films all his recording sessions as potential evidence for future lawsuits, but that the fear of a false allegation is still there, taking a toll. In our second topic we discuss the tragic passing of country music singer Naomi Jud as well as the impact of mental health on our society. Also don’t forget to check out Blind Café Radio 24 7 365 at www.blindcaferadio.com
