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The slightly dicey world of soundalikes.

tel: 212.217.9512

The slightly dicey world of soundalikes.

First, what’s a soundalike? Imagine for a minute you’re in advertising, working on a campaign; a commercial maybe. You’ve got the messaging and visuals, and you’re on to “what about music?” And then a song occurs to you, a familiar one that everybody knows and relates to in a manner that will support your vision …

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No. Jumping right on this one, because it’s straightforward. This morning we have headlines that Juice WRLD is getting sued, again. Sting pretty much owns “Lucid Dreams” now, rightly. And this new suit comes because a young artist from Colorado, Jerome Willisch, who works under the name Fly Jxy, is under the impression that “Lean …

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Any day is a good day to sue Ed Sheeran. [ UPDATE: (Oct ’22) This article was mostly written in 2019. I’ve written others with more tedious granularity since, but this is still a decent summary.] Sheeran has been sued twice in this, the summer of 2019; the other, I’ll go out of my way …

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Timberlake and Will.i.am are being sued for stealing “Damn Girl.” And I’d say they’ve got a big problem. Justin Timberlake and Will.i.am (William Adams) are facing an infringement suit over “Damn Girl,” their collaboration from Timberlake’s very successful “Futuresex/Lovesounds” record. That record is a decade old. And this case was filed in 2016. But after …

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Interpolation, sampling, and substantial similarity: Any of them might amount to infringement but they have specific meanings and when they are used incorrectly or interchangeably, it’s confusing and obfuscating. So let’s get clear on what we mean. First, interpolation: Merriam-Webster.com says one definition of interpolation is “the introduction or insertion of something spurious or foreign.” …

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Led Zeppelin vs Spirit/Skidmore v.1: discarded by the Ninth Circuit. And it’s a mixed bag at best. It’s been about a year since a jury decided that Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven did not infringe upon the copyright of Taurus, by the band Spirit. That jury ruled that although Led Zeppelin had access to Taurus the two …

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I’ll keep this one brief. Because there’s nothing to get into here. And I’m gonna predict that Miley Cyrus, Mike WiLL Made-It and Wiz Khalifa will swat this one aside in short order. Still, it’s interesting. It’s interesting that someone filed the complaint. This is the sort of thing where Musicologize might employ a Politifct …

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Katy Perry’s Dark Horse case appears to be going to court. In 2015 a Christian rap artist named Flame claimed Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” infringed upon his track “Joyful Noise.” A few years later, the case hasn’t settled and according to latest reports is indeed going to trial. Anything to see here? Well, the judge himself just called this “…an extremely close …

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Sheehan sued, again. Gaye, again. $100 million this time. But of course, we reach the same conclusion as last time. According to TMZ Ed Sheeran is getting sued, yes again, for ripping off Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” This time the plaintiff is “Structured Asset Sales” which owns a third of the rights to …

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It took a while but a lawsuit alleging that James Arthur may have lifted “Say You Won’t Let Go” from The Script’s “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” was evidently filed today (Today being Monday, May 21, 2018) and hold on to your hats,  it’s Richard Busch for the plaintiffs, whom as I’ve said, nobody …

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