A six-person jury decided in Fogerty’s favor in November 1988 that he did not steal his own song. The singer-songwriter showed up for each day of the two-week trial and even spent one day playing bits and bobs of “Proud Mary,” “Fortunate Son” and the two songs at issue for the court. He estimated that he’d spent “about $400,000, more than the song earned” in his legal defense. He later countersued Fantasy to get his legal fees back in a suit that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor in 1994.
Yeah, I got frustrated at his videos decrying modern music production methods, that verged on old-man-yells-at-cloud, but there are few more knowledgeable music minds out there.
I mean, what’s next, someone copyrighting the 4 chords used in all pop hits?
In a world of Fruity Loops where ANYONE can make a loop beat - some of them not half bad - it is gonna be real hard not to have some similarities.
Although - I don’t even think the sound similar. The idea that that both start with vocalization some how makes them similar too is ridiculous. It is a common trope in pop and hip hop.
Comes down to making a buck. Perry didn’t have her career inspired by this rapper guy, she wasn’t putting out an homage to that genre. It was a tune her producers thought was catchy and she could do something with it (make a hit song).
Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Rolling Stones… grew up influenced by the pioneers of blues and related genres. Sure some Zep tunes are borderline theft, but this appreciation, the style… and some riffs, will seep into their work. They grew up on this music, it is in their DNA.
The difference between apprenticing from a master on a mountain top or learning from a YouTube video.
Thanks @beschizza, this sent me down a rabbit hole (as your posts often do) to figure out how to get ARR1 sounds on my computer. Grabbed a bunch of Fairlight CMI files converted to .sfv off this huge Fairlight sound library. I am playing with them in sforzando, and having so much fun! Was obsessed with listening to Moments in Love a couple years back.
I seem to recall the last time someone posted that video (and thanks for reminding us - it’s always worth it) I may have posted this one as a response.
Four chords? Sure. Similar but mildly different melodies? Sure. But that’s just similarities.
Whereas here we have 6 pretty much identical songs. How come this lot didn’t sue each other? Maybe because less money was made and they’ve all been incestuously passing the same riff around themselves for years and years? Maybe the same writers were behind them? Whatever. Enjoy the universal, multi-use, all-purpose country song.
My art of noise CD is pretty much to blame for my love of electronica today.
And when I first heard Dark Horse, My mind did, in fact, go to Moments in love. But only in a “hey, this is similar to…” sense, surely not a “hey, this is a copy of…” sense.
Being involved in the world of music copyright in the era of sampling must suck.
