For those of you who haven’t heard, Coldplay (the British super pop group) is being sued by Joe Satriani. Specifically, Joe is saying the Coldplay violated copy right by using substantial parts of his music in their hit song “Viva La Vida”.
Now the amazing thing is this: how many people have heard of Joe Satriani? Some of the more guitar minded people will say that he’s been tremendously influental, and trained some of the greatest guitar players of the past several decades. Don’t believe, then check this out.
Perhaps the first question isn’t the right one. Instead, the right question might be: how relevant is Joe Satriani in today’s music landscape? Call it a case of the glass being half empty, but it seems terribly convenient that this lawsuit should come after this song has been out for so long. The song came out several months ago, and has been a huge hit. Of course, now it’s all coming to lawsuits. It just seems like a long time. Trust me, just ask the Verve about Bittersweet Symphony, that all happened real fast.
It’s funny that Coldplay should have to publicly act surprised. Personally, I don’t believe that they have violated any copyright, and are just suffering from a case of “that sounds familiar”. It’s a great song, I know because it got caught in my head all summer.
But who knows, maybe old Joe is right. Maybe Coldplay did violate his copyright. Maybe he’s just trying to protect the integrity of his work and not seek new relevance and fame. But hey, that’s for the jury to decide.
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