The latest trend to hit the music industry doesn’t come in the form of some new technology or even a fresh, burgeoning genre. No, the latest trend to take the industry by storm is plagiarism disputes and right now people can’t get enough of them.
While disputes and even full-blown legal skirmishes over plagiarism are commonplace in any industry that’s built on copyright, they’ve been thrust back into the spotlight thanks to the highly publicised trial that saw Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke pay $7.4 million to the estate of Marvin Gaye.
Following that controversial verdict, Mark Ronson, Sam Smith, and even Guns ‘N Roses each faced their own allegations of plagiarism, with the former two actually forced to give credit to the artists who made the claims (The Gap Band and Tom Petty, respectively).
In the wake of the Mark Ronson dispute, artist manager Danny Zook told Billboard that the ‘Blurred Lines’ verdict had changed attitudes towards songwriting credits in the industry. “Everyone is being a little more cautious. Nobody wants to be involved in a lawsuit,” he said.
However, the artists involved in the latest case of alleged plagiarism don’t seem too keen to get the lawyers involved. In fact, pop singer Kelly Clarkson seems to have a newfound respect for pop punk outfit Jimmy Eat World after they dismissed claims her recent single ripped off their breakthrough hit.
As 3 News reports, fans noticed the similarities in the choruses of Clarkson’s ‘Heartbeat Song’ and Jimmy Eat World’s ‘The Middle’ when the pop tune first hit the airwaves earlier this year. Clarkson recently addressed such claims in an interview with Rolling Stone.
“I didn’t write the song, I just sang it,” she told the magazine. “But I didn’t catch that. Nobody behind the scenes did. What’s funny is that I was a huge fan of that Jimmy Eat World album. I thought it was really cool of Jimmy Eat World to say, ‘Hey, no harm, no foul.’ There are only so many chords.”
Clarkson admits that the similarities between the two songs could have easily blown up into another legal battle like that between Williams and Thicke and the children of Marvin Gaye, who claimed that the singer and the superstar producer had plagiarised 1977’s ‘Got To Give It Up’.
“I felt so bad for Pharrell when he got sued – he’s a huge fan of Marvin Gaye, and you know he didn’t mean to rip him off. And he’s the sweetest guy ever. It sucks,” said Clarkson. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like Clarkson has to expect a call from Jimmy Eat World’s lawyers any time soon.
