These 13 Famous Songs Were Copied — Wait Until You Hear #5!
Perhaps they are not the latest plagiarism cases, but nevertheless: copying, plagiarizing, imitating or just plain stealing – plagiarism occurs more often in the music world than some musicians would like. If you think that it is mostly smaller, unknown artists who make use of the property of others, you are mistaken. Many big names in the music industry have shamelessly copied their colleagues.
Plagiarized music: musicians exposed
Whether it's Pharrell Williams in collaboration with Robin Thicke, megastar Beyoncé Knowles or the Beach Boys: the list of musicians who have been overly inspired by others could go on and on. It's often the case in the music business that the courts have to deal with the issue of song theft – as recent plagiarism cases show.
A current example: Queen Bey was recently sued (for the sixth time in total). A concise line from her song “Formation” is said to be derived from the dead rapper Messy Mya.
Especially in pop music, which is increasingly mirroring itself and sometimes gets by with three chords, similarities are unavoidable. How obvious does plagiarism have to be to avoid being accused of 432 thefts? Below, we have put together a small selection of well-known and perhaps surprising cases of plagiarism in music that, in our opinion, are hard to beat in terms of how stupid they are.
Remember: good composers borrow, great ones steal.
Paul Kalkbrenner vs Aaron Neville
Who doesn't know it: the much-acclaimed soundtrack to the movie Berlin Calling includes a track called “Aaron”, which glides along at a smooth 112 BPM and conveys a sense of optimism. With it, Paul Kalkbrenner effortlessly managed to get even people over 55 excited about it. He got his inspiration from the original – including the title.
The original work by Aaron Neville has a much jazzier feel. The characteristic guitar is relatively free at the very beginning and almost invites you to help yourself.
The Verve vs The Rolling Stones
A legal dispute that lasted more than 20 years and involved several million dollars in publishing royalties. Songwriter Richard Ashcroft knowingly used a string sample from an orchestral version of “The Last Time” by the Rolling Stones. However, Allen Klein – former manager of the Rolling Stones and rights holder of the song – simply did not want to release the sample.
“Bitter Sweet Symphony” was released as a single in 1997 and became one of the most successful songs in the UK. However, Richard Ashcroft had to cede all rights and received nothing for the song's success. It was only in 2019 that a conciliatory agreement was reached and Richard Ashcroft regained the rights to the song.
Kid Rock vs Warren Zevon
Kid Rock's “All Summer Long” is a timeless classic – but it was already a hit in 1978, as the following video proves.
The original title is “Werewolves Of London” and comes from Warren Zevon's album Excitable Boy. The similarity is striking.
Lana Del Rey vs Radiohead vs Albert Hammond
A plagiarism dispute can also be repeated. Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood initially sued the band Radiohead for their song “Creep”.
He has based himself a bit too much on the song “The Air That I Breathe”. From now on, Hammond and Hazlewood must be named as co-authors.
Almost two decades later, it was again Lana Del Rey who listened a little too closely to Creep for her song “Get Free”. This also led to a dispute. However, the exact circumstances and outcome have not been made public.
Nirvana vs Killing Joke
Everyone knows it, everyone loves it too, somehow – but not everyone is aware of the very audacious copying of Nirvana. Their hit “Come As You Are” has even been recognized as a clear plagiarism by musicologists.
The original was by the British punk band Killing Joke and in their repertoire it was called “Eighties”. You can't deny the similarity. A lawsuit against Kurt Cobain was never filed, as Nirvana always emphasized that they were big fans of Killing Joke. Lucky escape!
The Beatles vs Chuck Berry
Even the founding fathers of pop music, The Beatles, are not immune to accusations of plagiarism. The rhythm and one line of the lyrics of the song “Come Together” are said to be very similar to the song “You Can't Catch Me” by Chuck Berry.
Incidentally, George Harrison's solo song “My Sweet Lord” was also accused of being a plagiarism.
Coldplay vs Joe Satriani
Coldplay's hit “Viva La Vida” now has almost half a billion views on YouTube. The work that the song is thought to be based on is nowhere near that number.
Joe Satriani's “If I Could Fly” has, however, already been identified as the source material by large sections of the YouTube community, and the corresponding comments are making reference to Coldplay's audacity.
Oasis vs The New Seekers
The song “Shakermaker” by Oasis caused a furor in 1994. But not only with an unbundled attitude that Oasis became famous for. The song was also very reminiscent of the song “I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing”.
This song was originally written for a Coke commercial. Later, the song became a big hit for The New Seekers. A settlement between Oasis and the authors of the song was reached in which several million dollars are said to have changed hands.
Robin Thicke & Pharrell Williams vs Marvin Gaye
“Blurred Lines” became a mega-hit and rocketed up the charts. Robin Thicke and his musical partner Pharrell Williams earned a decent sum of money. It's just a shame that the heirs of Marvin Gaye got involved, sought a legal dispute and were ultimately awarded 7.4 million US dollars in compensation.
We can only agree with the courts decision. Both songs are very similar. »Blurred Lines« was clearly copied from the 1977 song »Got To Give It Up«, according to the court in sunny LA.
Ed Sheeran vs Marvin Gaye
Ed Sheeran is also said to have used Marvin Gaye in one of his songs. Sheeran's hit “Thinking Out Loud” is said to be a bit too similar to the song “Let's Get It On”.
Sheeran was able to dismiss the first lawsuit in 2017. When he was sued for $100 million a year later, he could no longer save himself so easily. The trial continues to this day.
Ray Parker Jr. vs Huey Lewis And The News
We were a little shocked when we came across this obvious plagiarism during our online research. The title song from the movie of the same name, “Ghostbusters”, a number one hit in the USA and France, actually exists in two versions.
It is no wonder that it didn't take long for Huey Lewis to sue Ray Parker Jr. for the striking similarity to his song “I Want a New Drug”. The Ghostbusters producers later admitted to having used Lewis' song as background music in numerous scenes. An out-of-court settlement was ultimately reached.
Bruce Springsteen vs Tommy Tutone
Bruce Springsteen experienced this himself with his song “Radio Nowhere”. The actual originators, the British pop band Tommy Tutone, even had a top 10 hit in the Billboard Hot 100 with their version, somewhat unwieldily titled “867-5309/Jenny”. However, that didn't stop Springsteen from discreetly ripping them off.
It is indeed difficult to stand out when there are only so numerous chords in the world. However, there has never been any real conflict between the artists: Bruce Springsteen is the “boss”, as Tommy Tutone once quoted the band members. They felt honored.
Sean Kingston vs Led Zeppelin
Sean Kingston had some success with his song “Me Love” in 2008. Although the style has moved into a different genre, the original that served as a template for this piece can be heard more than clearly. But listen for yourself.
“D'yer Mak'er” was probably still slumbering on the hard drive or on the record shelf of the resourceful producer who was responsible for Kingston's ‘Me Love’. Is that art or can it be disposed of? In this case, the decision was probably more towards the last option.
Forensic musicology reports
When it comes to verifying the originality of a song in a legal manner, there are experts who carefully examine and analyze the songs. The most distinctive characteristic is almost always the melody of a piece of music. In addition, it is important to determine which tones were used and how the rhythmic progression is defined.
The key in which a song was written, on the other hand, plays almost no role. Additional clues can be provided by harmonies, styles and interpretations. Specially developed software is also used: the program “Song2see” was developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology, which can be used to automatically create transcriptions of songs.
A special detector for plagiarism is also used, which creates a similarity index based on set parameters (rhythm, intervals, etc.). However, the courts always have the last word – even in these examples of plagiarism.