Musicology

Lil Nas X has like a zillion dollars worth of lawsuits coming at him. And one of them has a point, but it ain’t this one. Two songs can sound a ton alike and not be a case of infringement. This in my opinion is such a case. Give me another two and half minutes. …

What’s next, following this week’s en banc hearing? Earlier this week, eleven Ninth Circuit judges heard arguments in the continuing case of Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin, the ‘Stairway To Heaven’ infringement case. This en banc hearing focused not so much on musical matters per se but legal ones such as erroneous jury instructions in the …

Stairway v. Taurus (actually Led Zeppelin v Skidmore) returns to court Monday, Sept 23 for an en banc hearing in the Ninth Circuit and although there are other articles here on Musicologize that cover this case from all angles, I wanted to recap a bit and compile the key aspects. Here’s a quick rundown on …

Rarely am I anything but dismayed that my kids are getting older. I’m grateful though that “Baby Shark” was never playing on loop in my home. My kids were a few years too old to have gotten caught up in that.  However, “Baby Shark” has been looping in the copyright news for a little while …

Drake’s getting sued over an allegedly unlicensed sample in two of his biggest tracks, In My Feelings and Nice For What. This isn’t really that much about analyzing music, but after just a few emails asking, “What do you think about the Drake samples thing?” and “Are we really gonna start suing over drums now?!” …

First things first, the Kraftwerk case was initiated in Germany twenty years ago and decided recently by the Court of Justice of the European Union. Copyright laws vary in some ways from place to place, but behind intellectual property laws are philosophical principles that evolve. And especially philosophical decisions like this one move discussions along …

In the days following the Katy Perry Dark Horse verdict, my news feed was packed with articles about what a bad omen it was; how it sent chills down composer’s and songwriter’s spines and would hinder creativity. It would also herald an era of frivolous lawsuits where little known artists would shakedown successful artists into …

This is the third Musicologize article on the subject. Here, links to the previous two. A year ago, when it became evident this wasn’t going to settle. Tried to cover everything that would likely matter. Mid-trial, Occam’s Razor style: The core truth in just three minutes — how Dark Horse’s ‘beat’ is actually made of …

Lil Nas X was having a banner week. Old Town Road just tied the record for most weeks at #1. Today we learn he’s is being sued for 25 million for another track, “Carry On.” This is going to be fascinating not because there’s any question that Lil Nas X’s “Carry On” is full of …

As an old friend of mine used to put it, “don’t hurt yourself looking for a more elaborate explanation for something when a simpler explanationone will do.” Katy Perry is in court as I’m typing this, defending her hit Dark Horse against an infringement claim by the creators of Joyful Noise, and against what I …