Yeah, no. Sheeran is definitely in the right on this one. The suit is bullshit and should concern us all.

While probably hard to frame in legal terms, I don't think it's a stretch calling this song a rip off in a "you know it's porn when you see it" sort of way. As I care more about creativity than legality I'm not that sympathetic..



And yeah I think Gaye's family is shitty and greedy (as I pointed out this isn't the first time) but this is a LONG way from they're gonna come for you next. "Soon painters won't be able to use the color red.." Good god..

(all he had to do was change one fucking chord and we wouldn't be here..)

The thing that I'm wondering is...

The song is nearly nine fucking years old and was a huge hit.

If it was that obvious of a rip-off to warrant a lawsuit, why is it only coming up now?

It's like the Townsend estate is using AI to figure out which artists they can sue.

^ EDIT: I see the suit was first brought up in 2017. Still.. it was a huge hit, and it took 3 years. This doesn't pass the sniff test for me.

This is a great piece from WaPo a few years ago by Elizabeth Nelson (the Paranoid Style Twitter account person).

Gifted the link, definitely worth reading if you haven't figured out how bullshit this case is yet:

https://wapo.st/3AShZQX

Also, it isn't Gaye's family, but the co-writer's widow and family.

EDIT: Gift link not working for some reason, here's the normal link:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... copyright/

Also this isn't even the first suit against Sheeran..

https://www.musicradar.com/news/ed-shee ... sm-verdict

If you can stomach these shitty songs (one I heard a bazillion times when I used to go to a gym) you'll hear he clearly lifted that "oh ayyye" hook. Maybe dude is better off quitting music.

I didn't take the time to compare songs and ponder. I trust the good criteria and wisdom of the gentlemen here.

I guess they'll fiinally reach some type of 50/50 agreement, isn't what it usually happen?

Hope justice is made, but couldn't care less about another millionaire "artist".

I'm guessing the Elastica/Wire situation was probably something more interesting to this forum.

I'm also guessing that debate already took place here a long time ago.

jfv wrote: Thu May 04, 2023 11:16 am I'm guessing the Elastica/Wire situation was probably something more interesting to this forum.

I'm also guessing that debate already took place here a long time ago.

My recollection of this one was that Wire didn’t mind at all that part of “Three Girl Rhumba” had been repurposed in “Connection,” which makes a very different song out of it, until Elastica claimed untruthfully that Wire loved “Connection.”

The interesting thing about these debates is how differently we all hear these song pairings. “Stairway to Heaven” and that Spirit song, to my ears, sound very different. Maybe Spirit inspired Jimmy Page, but he made something wholly new out of it.

But others hear the two and honestly think they sound virtually identical.

I encountered a comment online from someone who (again, honestly, I think) insisted that “My Sweet Lord” sounded nothing like “He’s So Fine.” To my ears, it’s a Xerox.

Well, Sheeran won, it seems.

Anonymous37 wrote: Thu May 04, 2023 12:49 pm Well, Sheeran won, it seems.

That's good.

Also, I was bored and found this Wikipedia page that lists songs accused of being plagiarized, if anyone is curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_s ... m_disputes