STOLEN SONGS. ...IS THAT MINE?

Have you ever stolen a bit of someones song? Come on..be honest, you're amongst friends.

There have been many arguments & lawsuits through the decades concerning stolen songs, nicked guitar riffs, & poached drum kicks.

Only today a friend text me to say that she kept hearing a song on tha radio that reminded her of tha opener of my track "I cant Stand Tha Rain" & wondered if tha artist had nicked it..intrigued I went to check it out. It was none other than Lady Ga Ga & her new song "Do what you want with my body" &  yes, I can see a slight musical similarity and had a little chuckle, You can check for yaself.
                            

                     
Theres a  war of words going on right now between Marvin Gayes family & Robin Thickes camp over tha track "Blurred Lines" You can read it here: GAYE Vs THICKE 
Note tha line that says "being reminiscent of a 'sound' is not copyright infringement".

If you're gonna sample a bit or alot of someone  elses track then its courteous to give them credit, especially if you never had their persmission in tha first place. "I cant stand tha rain was my rap take on Ann peebles classic and I not only made sure to credit her on tha physical CD I try and make sure to credit her wherever tha songs placed online too. I also did this with my rap take of "I will always luv you" Hell yeah , Big up Dolly Parton.
Naturally if you just steal someones work, part or in full, and dont acknowledge them they're gonna be pretty hacked off and you could find yourself facing a hefty lawsuit, Now if your someone like me, without a pot to piss in, in tha first place its not a problem but....I still wouldn't dream of not giving credit where credits rightfully due.

Heres some stolen songs you might not have been aware of:
Huey Lewis from tha band Huey Lewis & the News was really popular in tha 80's and was asked to write tha theme for tha film "Ghostbusters" but declined tha offer, so Ray Parker Jnr was commissioned to do tha job instead  and...well ..  nicked Hueys  track "I want a new drug". Both trax were mega successful and so Huey obviously heard "Ghostbusters" and sued Ray, who eventually settled out of court.

Perhaps a real shocker is tha Beatles song "Come Together" such a classic &  covered legally by three other top bands, but tha beatles aknowledged that they stole tha song themselves & in 1973 they were sued by Chuck Berrys Camp Big seven music Corp claiming they stole it from his song "You Cant Catch Me" in fact they not only stole Berrys Music they stole some of tha lyrics too. Berry wrote "Here come a flattop, he was moving on up with me".......While Lennon wrote "Here come Ol flattop he come groovin on up slowly" 

Eventually it was settled out of court but Lennon was so hacked off that he decided to record three more of Big seven Corps songs to piss them off, They responded by releasing a series of unauthorized outakes to embarrass him. When it erupted in a court showdown it was actually Lennon who ended up winning to tha  tidy sum of eighty five grand.

I've always believed in Courtesy & respect and if you're an artist yourself then it pays to treat other artists how you'd want to be treated...& if you're gonna steal someone elses song at least be honest about it.....

                 stay blessed, Back Before Elvis ;) xxx             


Comments

  1. Respect is such a simple thing.
    Big respect & luv to you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanx David, Comin right back atcha :) xxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. so true its very hard with so many songs out there that is easy to sound like someone else totally by accident even if you never heard there song before,but i agree with you 100 percent..my own stuff is so different ,ill never have to worry about any buddy useing it lol..have and awesome day oxox

    ReplyDelete

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