Community Chat

[RainCityGirl]

Does anyone know if this was a one time payoff or if future royalties are involved? The amount of $7+ million is not that much in the scheme of things, but I can see that it is probably a good idea to appeal, not necessarily because of the monetary award, but for what it means to future musical compositions. Guess I'l go back and try to find the original judgement.

[Irshgrl31201]

On 3/11/2015 RainCityGirl said:

On 3/11/2015 Irshgrl31201 said:

On 3/11/2015 RainCityGirl said:

On 3/11/2015 Irshgrl31201 said:

On 3/11/2015 RainCityGirl said:

First of all, I don't think his music WAS used by anyone. Secondly, I doubt that Marvin Gaye himself would be bothered with a lawsuit because he understood the nature of music. Third, someone mentioned sampling as in Vanilla Ice. The members of Queen and David Bowie must have either given permission to lift a line from Under Pressure, OR they didn't care to bother with a lawsuit. There are many, many rap songs that have lifted a riff or actually taken a whole chorus from an actual song to use in their music. The most recent that I can think of is Flo Rida's use of an Etta James riff. I don't remember any lawsuit and this was her actual voice being used, not some nebulous reference to notes or drum lines that are sort of similar.

I am the one who mentioned the sampling and DB and Queen and it settled out of court with Vanilla Ice before it even went to trial. This is different though than the Pharrell/Gay thing. Vanilla Ice very obviously sampled it where Pharrells was reminiscent of it. Big difference. The history of music shows similarities because artists do get inspired by one another. Sampling is completely different and many hip hop artists do pay to sample other artists. IMO this was not comparable at all and I think the jury made the complete wrong decision.

Whoever compared his daughters reaction being comparable to a murder trial verdict. ITA, she was way over the top for an infringement rights verdict and I actually think her father Marvin Gaye would be appalled by his family bring suit because if there was anyone who understood the community of music it was him. He had a very collaborative spirit and career.

I know exactly what sampling is. I've just never followed any litigation involving it. All I know is there is a heck of a lot of it happening and yet people proclaim these samplers geniuses at what they do, (i.e. Flor Rida). On the other hand, the only lifting I can see in Blurred Lines is an actual drum line. There are only so many drum beats and lines. Does that mean that anyone who uses the same drum riff is subject to litigation? We might as well throw in the towel on all music. Blatant stealing of a song would be the George Harrison song My Sweet Lord. Note for note the same melody.

Where in there did I say you didn't know what sampling was? I am in agreement with you so I don't know who you are arguing with.

I thought you were explaining the difference to me. Nothing more. I am not arguing at all, just continuing the discussion. Geez.

No, I was simply saying that Vanilla Ice settled out of court for his sampling. I mentioned it originally because it seems a lot of people here think that Pharrell sampled and it couldn't be further from the truth. I don't think a lot of people here are really familiar with the differences.

[Irshgrl31201]

On 3/11/2015 RainCityGirl said:

Does anyone know if this was a one time payoff or if future royalties are involved? The amount of $7+ million is not that much in the scheme of things, but I can see that it is probably a good idea to appeal, not necessarily because of the monetary award, but for what it means to future musical compositions. Guess I'l go back and try to find the original judgement.

I sure hope he appeals. This sets a horrible precedent for future musicians.

[Shorty2U]

Well now I read on Facebook that the Gaye family is listening to Pharrells HAPPY song. Uhm I don't think that song sounds like any Marvin Gaye song. I guess we shall fine out soon if they try to sue for that song also. If so then sorry but I have my doubts about this family.

[Elstongunn]

On 3/10/2015 RainCityGirl said:

I've listened to the Marvin Gaye song Got To Give It Up and I own Blurred Lines. The only similarity I hear is the drum line and similar drum lines are used in all songs. You can't own a beat exclusive to everyone else as far as I am concerned. The song doesn't sound at all the same and quite frankly isn't as good as Blurred Lines. I hope they appeal this because it sets a bad precedent for anyone to come along and claim they were ripped off if a few beats are the same. It looks to me as if Marvin Gaye's family is just trying to cash in on whatever they can off a dead man. Too bad they couldn't keep his own father from shooting him to begin with. He'd then still be around to create more music. Pharrell is a good man and also very talented. He doesn't HAVE to rip some other artist off.

I agree that the drum line/percussion are similar, but that it is not an exact copy (to my untrained ear, anyway).

[Preds]

On 3/11/2015 Irshgrl31201 said:

On 3/11/2015 RainCityGirl said:

Does anyone know if this was a one time payoff or if future royalties are involved? The amount of $7+ million is not that much in the scheme of things, but I can see that it is probably a good idea to appeal, not necessarily because of the monetary award, but for what it means to future musical compositions. Guess I'l go back and try to find the original judgement.

I sure hope he appeals. This sets a horrible precedent for future musicians.

I think so, too.

[RainCityGirl]

I just read a larger article on the lawsuit. The family originally asked for $25 million, and the original lawsuit attempted to sue for the whole genre of music naming most of Marvin Gaye's songs. That was stopped, which says a lot about the family's motives and the fact that you can't claim ownership of an entire genre. I still haven't found whether they get royalties every time the song is played from now on. Still looking.

[Chrystaltree2]

I think you probably have to be a professional to really understand this. I do wonder why they didn't settle this quietly out of court.

[MickD]

I believe the almost 7.4 is up until now....no future royalties monies have been settled yet...which DH found odd..usually everything is settled at once.

[maryebrown_1]

On 3/11/2015 ktlynam said:

On 3/10/2015 RainCityGirl said:

I've listened to the Marvin Gaye song Got To Give It Up and I own Blurred Lines. The only similarity I hear is the drum line and similar drum lines are used in all songs. You can't own a beat exclusive to everyone else as far as I am concerned. The song doesn't sound at all the same and quite frankly isn't as good as Blurred Lines. I hope they appeal this because it sets a bad precedent for anyone to come along and claim they were ripped off if a few beats are the same. It looks to me as if Marvin Gaye's family is just trying to cash in on whatever they can off a dead man. Too bad they couldn't keep his own father from shooting him to begin with. He'd then still be around to create more music. Pharrell is a good man and also very talented. He doesn't HAVE to rip some other artist off.

I agree that the drum line/percussion are similar, but that it is not an exact copy (to my untrained ear, anyway).

I don't remember the Marvin Gaye song, but I have heard Blurred Lines at least a 1000 times due to the fact that Radio Stations run these songs into the ground for months on end! On The Talk today, they played the beginnings of both of the songs, and they did sound similar to me.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a whole lot of room for New Artists to "create" original music - most of them admit who their musical influences are and, after listening to music for many years, they know what they like, why they like it and, while attempting to re-invent the musical wheel and produce a hit record, it seems to be an arduous task to avoid plagiarizing someone else's rhythms, beats, notes, etc. After all, there are only so many musical notes and putting words to them is an art form, too.

I've heard many songs that have sounded similar but I usually notice the differences before I jump to the conclusion that the song was deliberately plagiarized (which I think should be punishable and the original artist should be compensated). Also, IMO, one artist cannot claim to 'own a genre' of music and attempt to sue artists who release music from the genre - that is beyond bizarre.