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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5 responses so far ↓
Coldplagiarism // December 11, 2008 at 1:16 pm |
No doubt Coldplagiarism happened here. Coldplay’s arrogance will bite them in the ass. Whether it was intentional or not, is not the issue. Satriani’s claim is legit. The section of the song is virtually identical harmonically and melodically. It’s his intellectual property. Coldplay would be smart to just say that it was unintentional, but given reality of the situation, song writing credit will be given to Satriani as well. Most of their critics would be satisfied with that and they wouldn’t look like suck arrogant jerks.
Get the shirt!!
http://www.zazzle.com/coldplagiarism_viva_la_fraude_t_shirt-235701356821717844?gl=monkeyclown&rf=238266558925436073
memphismafia // December 12, 2008 at 11:04 am |
Yeah, I have to agree that when you listen to the two together it’s pretty compelling. This could be another case of Ice Ice Baby. Apparently, subtle changes are all that a music artist needs now. It would be interesting to see if the argument worked again.
Dan // January 19, 2009 at 9:42 pm |
Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” becomes The Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ USA”…The Kinks’ “All Day And All of the Night” becomes The Doors’ “Hello, I Love You”…Phil Spector’s “He’s So Fine” (doodle-lang, doodle-lang, doo-lang), recorded by the Chiffons, becomes George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord”…this is nothing new. With a limited number of notes to work with, and the fact that certain combinations sound better together than others, it’s almost inevitable that songs, and sections of songs, will end up being copied, consciously or not. Heck, I even know people who confuse Blues Traveler with Sister Hazel because of the fact that “Run Around” and “Hard to Say” sound so similar (mainly because they use the same chord progression and melodic intervals).
memphismafia // January 20, 2009 at 9:25 am |
Yeah, it’s a horrible, horrible never ending cycle. But hey, that’s the music industry.
Dan // January 19, 2009 at 9:48 pm |
I think the main difference nowadays is that artists are so effin’ uptight about these things. They didn’t necessarily used to be so. Case in point: Buffalo Springfield’s “Baby Don’t Scold Me”, from their 1966 debut album (on subsequent pressings it was bumped in favor of “For What It’s Worth” when the latter became the group’s big hit), includes a truncated version of The Beatles’ “Day Tripper” riff, before going off into something different. To date, the Fab Four (or, more properly, their surviving two members) haven’t felt compelled to sue Stills, Young, et al. over this issue—even though they must have heard this song at some point in the past forty-odd years. But now, geez…musicians seem to be out for blood.