Musicology

Perhaps you’ve heard that you can’t copyright a groove. (Copyright isn’t really a verb, but everyone understands what you mean when you use it as one.) And on the heels of “you can’t” you might also hear, “But what about Blurred Lines?!” And yes, when the silly Blurred Lines case happened, it was said to …

Short answer: This is what a forensic musicologist does. As a forensic musicologist, I use my expertise in music theory, music history, and copyright law to analyze and explain whether one musical work is musically and legally related to another musical work. And who hires a forensic musicologist? Forensic musicologists are hired by both plaintiffs …

First Blush Prima Facie Hot Take: It’s a whole lot the same alright, but it might not be a sample, and it might not be copyright infringement. We’ll explain. Won’t take long: Today we learned that Lil Uzi Vert, is being sued for what might be an illegal sample in his 2020 track Strawberry Peels, which …

Ed Sheeran is right to be annoyed by the number of copyright cases he has to face, and it’s true that the world of music copyright has shifted somewhat since the “Blurred Lines” verdict. But there are legitimate interesting cases out there, and there are some less advisable ones. And because nobody doesn’t love a …

Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” lawsuit was the subject of a podcast I listened to this morning from Slate. High-profile cases like this are fascinating to the public, and I’d suggest they inform and steer the climate of litigation in which creators these days have to create. When I read or hear public discussion around a case …

Did someone at CNN get shut out of tickets to the Eras Tour or what? It strikes me very odd that a week or so after the “Shake It Off” case was dismissed and presumably settled, there’s still a court of public opinion battle worth waging, and a news banner. The press announcement that I …

Tis the season of listicles, so here are the top five copyright cases of the year. Two aren’t even music copyright cases, though one of those does have Prince in it. Know what? Make it six. The first one is a bonus. The bar for the responsible application of music copyright has been raised and …

It’s one of the most famous copyright infringement cases of all time. In 1970, the year of The Beatles’ breakup, George Harrison had a hit song called “My Sweet Lord.” It’s very familiar, obviously. And it certainly sounded very familiar to Bright Tunes Music Corporation, the owner of the copyright to the 1964 song “He’s …

Wow. Roddy Ricch was sued for copyright infringement just last week over “The Box!” I think it’s five days later and he and DaBaby are being sued again for another #1 hit, “Rockstar.” And this news might actually be a day or two old. Juju Beatz (real name Craig Mims) is suing because he thinks …

A quick look at the lawsuit alleging that Roddy Ricch lifted his #1 hit, “The Box” from Greg Perry’s “Come On Down.” What’s it really about? And does it look like a strong case? (no.) First, the super short version: The foremost point of interest seems to be an unprotectable glissando that appears at the …