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 …

“Entities should not be multiplied without necessity!!” That’s Occam’s Razor. Or, as an old friend of mine used to lazily put it, “don’t hurt yourself looking for a more elaborate explanation when a simpler one will do.” This really will only take three minutes. Katy Perry is in court as I’m typing this, defending her …

Hot take: Maybe they did, but not from David Henderson and friends. Today we learn that 5 Seconds of Summer, the Australians who gave us the hit song “Youngblood” last year, are being sued by David Henderson, David Toth and Peter Ferencz because the opening melody lines of Youngblood are very similar to the melody …

Well, it’s not completely ridiculous. “I Don’t Care” is Justin Beiber and Ed Sheeran’s brand new single (as I type this, it came out yesterday.) I’d be hard pressed to think of another combo more certain to reach #1 as fast as Billboard can refresh? So everyone has heard the hell out of this track …

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 …

Jesse Braham, who is suing Taylor Swift for 40 million, surely believes that he has a fair point. He used a phrase that he thinks was pretty unique in his track, “Haters Gone Hate” and Taylor Swift, a few years later, used the same expression. And of course, here’s Taylor’s megahit. The two songs have …

What’s the difference between plagiarism and copyright infringement? It’s largely a matter of what’s immoral as opposed to what’s illegal. Let’s take plagiarism first. When we throw out the term “plagiarism,” we mean “taking and passing off another person’s words or ideas as your own, without attribution (crediting the source),” and it’s considered wrong, immoral, …

The three legged stool and why you need a musicologist before you write that complaint. I don’t know. But looking at the court decision that threw this out, I’d have to say the plaintiff, Timothy Arnett, didn’t engage a musicologist, and didn’t have his ducks in a row before filing his complaint. In it, he makes …

“Hey, that’s my song! They stole my music.” It’s a terrible feeling to believe that your music has been stolen. I often hear stories like, “I was listening to the radio, and I had to pull off the road!” Okay, maybe we don’t listen to a lot of radio anymore; instead, it’s Spotify, or you’re …

There’s a lot riding on the verdict of this soundalike infringement case that could go either way. The Eminem “Lose Yourself” case is a bit funny, but it’s by no means trivial. I think it’s very possible that this soundalike is going to be found to infringe upon Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” and that makes it …