Musicology

Two hours was barely enough to cover the main issues, about half of which were legalities and procedural, and the other half musicological. This case involves about 1800 songs and 180 defendants! First thoughts are a bit comforting, the judge in this case, the Honorable André Birotte Jr., is pretty on top of things. He’s …

Th th th think we found a loophole? Eighties rap star Rodney O is suing NLE Choppa because Choppa’s hit “Who TF Up In My Trap” might infringe upon the copyrights of a hip hop classic, “Everlasting Bass,” which Rodney O and Joe Cooley recorded in 1988. This case could prove very interesting, particularly in …

In his interview on the Howard Stern show, Ed Sheeran talked more about what he had said during the “Let’s Get It On” trial — that he might quit the music business altogether if the case was decided against him. I remember not taking it seriously at the time. But looking at this interview, and …

Someone shared with me Sheeran’s interview on Howard Stern. Mr. Stern asked Mr. Sheeran to play through some examples of (he put it well) “how similar things can be.” And Sheeran obliged. This does show, as Howard said, “how similar things can be.” But it shows something else too. Forensic musicologists are asked to analyze …

Ernie Hines’ 1960’s single “Help Me Put Out The Flame (In My Heart)” was sampled for Jay-Z’s “Paper Chase” and Ginuwine’s “Toe 2 Toe.” Hines sued, and he just lost. But despite some confusing headline stories about the case, nobody should imagine this makes a case for sampling without a license and getting away with …

Zayn Malik, once of “One Direction” of course, has been sued for copyright infringement by Formal Entertainment, an extension of songwriter Patrick Simmons, who performs as “Havyn.” (Got all that?) Let’s take ten minutes to consider the matter: First, there’s gonna need to be an explanation for how Zayn heard Havyn’s song, “Somebody Tonight,” before …

And she’s being sued by a flautist for heaven’s sake. René Lorente is a 74 year old Cuban-American flautist suing Karol G because here 2023 hit “Don’t Be Shy,” which she wrote and recorded with world-renowned DJ Tiësto, does indeed bear a resemblance to Lorente’s “Algo Diferente,” which he recorded in 1998, when she was …

A headline came across my desk this morning about the Steely & Clevie case, and the role that racism might play in how we view it. A Jamaican musicologist and attorney named Ewan Simpson reminds us that musicologists and forensic musicologists are like rectangles and squares; all forensic musicologists are musicologists, but not all musicologists …

Last week I wrote an article (not for Musicologize) asking about when we might be able to say the pendulum had swung back and away from the supposed floodgates opened years ago by “Blurred Lines.” Each appropriately adjudicated case since has been met with the idea that it’s compensatory or a regression toward a norm, …

Freeplay Music, a production music library founded by renowned composer Scott Schreer, who is best known for the iconic theme to the NFL On Fox Sports, sued CNN late last year, claiming CNN had used tracks from Freeplay across hundreds of videos airing in the Phillippines, Indonesia, Chile, and perhaps elsewhere without securing the proper …