Olivia Rodrigo’s debut record was about as big a deal in my house as any release in a long time. Drivers License had worn out its welcome, and Good 4 You, which was 10x better in every way, was all I heard for a week. Then I thought about the Paramore song and imagined, “I’ll …

TMZ reports there’s a lawsuit out there today because a couple of songwriters heard Jake Owens’s “Made For You” and its “Do, Mi, Re… Do” melody along with the lyric, “I was made for you.” They rightly thought it was very similar to the cadence in their own “Made For You” song. And THEN they …

Jay-Z and Timbaland still have to deal with Ernie Hines after all. If there is no settlement, and I really hope there is not, this case is way more interesting than it at first appears; a lot to look at. How’s it likely to end? We’ll get to that. First though, let’s look at the …

This is an actual email I received from an artist scared to put their own work out into the world for fear it would be copied, plagiarized, infringed upon, otherwise ripped off: “I’m a producer and songwriter. I’d love to show my stuff to producers and artists, but I’m afraid they’ll steal it. Should I …

Got time for a quick story? Just last week my daughter all of the sudden wanted to learn acoustic guitar. Specifically, Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird.” Two days later, with a little help from me and a little from the internet, pretty much never having touched a guitar prior, she could play Blackbird. (Thanks to some youtube …

A forensic musicologist applies musical expertise to illuminate the relevant truths in matters of civil law and there are four or five common situations in which they get a call. 1. Someone is suing you for copyright infringement. An accusation has been made that you copied another’s work, and although you’re sure their mistaken, you …

Marshmello got summary judgment, and here’s why I’m surprised. Arty, a fairly successful DJ and remixer, sued Marshmello whose biggest hit “Happier,” contains an instrumental hook that sounds a ton like a hook from Arty’s remix of a New Republic song, “I Lived.” Musicologize has articles about the similarity, but for now, it appears irrelevant. …

One of the stupidest cases to ever come down the pike, Taylor Swift and Evermore Theme Park have dropped their respective lawsuits against one another. Why am I even writing about a lawsuit that involves no forensic musicology whatsoever and is stupid besides? I’m not sure how to rationalize it actually. But I am sure …

A cautionary tale for composers? Arty (DJ Artem Stoliarov) is suing Marshmello whose biggest hit, “Happier,” in Arty’s view infringes on a work of his called “I Lived (Arty Remix).) There’s a Musicologize article about the question of similarity between “Happier,” and “I Lived (Arty Remix)” which is a remix of One Republic’s “I Lived.” …

Recently, U.S. District Court Judge John Kronstadt ruled that Pharrell Williams did not commit perjury in testimony about “Blurred Lines” when it and his creative process were the focus of a copyright infringement lawsuit. I know I’ve opined a lot about the song of the summer in 2013, and the 2015 trial in which it …