Musicology

First off, this isn’t headed anywhere, because Billy Idol is credited on The Strokes recent single “Bad Decisions.” Still interested in hypothesizing about how that came about, and the appropriateness of it, and looking forward to the Strokes maybe one day telling the story. First, in case you’ve not heard it, here’s “Bad Decisions” by …

For about five years there’s been a steady stream of infringement cases in the world of pop music. We’ve seen Katy Perry, Robin Thicke, Justin Timberlake, Lizzo, Juice WRLD, Carrie Underwood, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran (repeatedly), Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and Childish Gambino, off the top of my head, all in the news facing infringement …

About a year ago, October, 2018, hip hop artist M.O.S. complained that the Migos hit single, “Walk It, Talk It,” is a rip-off of his 2007 track “Walk It Like I Talk It.” I’m a bit surprised. I kinda think this went away a bit too easily. U.S. District Judge Analisa Nadine’s ruling is that …

(This article discusses a case involving Juice WRLD, who, since I wrote the article, tragically passed away. ) Juice WRLD is being sued by Yellowcard. And as I’m looking through some of it, I’m considering, “What’s more important to an infringement case: Similarity or access? It’s similarity, isn’t it? Where there’s tremendous significant similarity between …

Lil Nas X has like a zillion dollars worth of lawsuits coming at him all of the sudden. There’s the Bobby Caldwell “Carry On,” issue. And right now I’m going to look at a new complaint that “Rodeo” sounds too much like a track called “Broad Day” by PuertoReefa and Sakrite Duexe. It would seem …

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 …

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 newsfeed was packed with articles about what a bad omen it was; how it sent chills down composers’ and songwriters’ spines and would hinder creativity. Also, that it would herald an era of frivolous lawsuits where little-known artists would shakedown successful artists into nuisance …