If you’re a musician and are not worried that a court recently upheld the verdict on “Blurred Lines,” you should be. In 2015, after a couple of years of back-and-forth lawsuits, Marvin Gaye’s family won a copyright infringement lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams. The Gaye family believed Thicke’s megapopular single “Blurred Lines” stole from Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.” Gaye’s family won $7.4 million in damages, but the songwriters appealed the verdict in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Thicke and Williams lost last week. A ruling of 2-1 upheld the verdict. Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen voted against the Gaye family, writing in a statement that the verdict “allows the Gayes to accomplish what no one has before: copyright a musical style.” Even worse, this “establishes a dangerous precedent that strikes a devastating blow to future musicians and composers everywhere,” she wrote. What should you be concerned about as a musician? Plenty. Apparently inspiration is subject to lawsuit, no matter which key your song is in or which chords you use. With litigious songwriters in a music industry that’s having a hard time making as much money as it used to, this is a big problem. Now a style is up for debate in terms of copyright. In the case of “Blurred Lines,” there were definite similarities to “Got to Give You Up,” but it seemed more of a tribute than a rip-off. Yes, there’s a cowbell and a high falsetto set to a moving… [Read full story]
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