Did British singer Ed Sheeran plagiarize American Marvin Gaye? This is the question to be answered by a federal court in Manhattan in the United States. The trial resumed Monday, May 1.
This is the second time in a year that the 32-year-old singer-songwriter has been charged with copyright infringement. In question, this time not the lyrics, but a sequence of four chords in its tube Thinking Out Loud (Grammy Award for best song of the year in 2016), which would be the exact copy of four chords of a soul classic by marvin gaye, Let’s Get It Onreleased in 1973. It was the daughter of the song’s co-writer at the time, Ed Townsend, who took the case to court in 2017.
Ed Sheeran, however, denies having copied anyone. AfterTo prove it, at the helm on Monday May 1, he even took out his guitar and began to play and sing, as he had already done on his first day of hearing. Tousled red hair, dressed in a suit and tie, he chained his song in question with that of Marvin Gaye but also with titles by Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder or Van Morrison.
A running sequence
His argument is simple: this sequence of chords is extremely common, it even appears in guitar manuals. He is therefore neither the first nor the last artist to use it. Since this story, many musical specialists have closely scrutinized the artist’s piece, comparing it.
This trial is also closely followed by the music industry: the court’s decision basically amounts to settling a single question: can banal elements of harmony or melody belong to a composer, be privatized, protected by copyright… Or are they part of the public domain, a toolbox in which artists can freely draw?
Five million in damages for Pharrell Williams
In the New York Timesa law professor explains that if the Manhattan court chooses the first option, it will do things backwards.As in 2015, when Pharrell Williams, another music star, was sentenced to pay five million dollars for roughly similar facts; it had shocked the musicians and the lawyers a lot. Last year, after his first case – which he had won – Ed Sheeran had this sentence full of common sense: it is especially up to artists and “song writing“that these kinds of procedures are harmful.
2023-05-02 11:20:22
#United #States #trial #Sheeran #denies #plagiarized #Marvin #Gaye
