2015 Fall Grand Valley Magazine - (Page 27)

When it was released in 1971, Led Zeppelin's iconic hit "Stairway to Heaven" became part of a proverbial soundtrack to a generation, driven by a powerful melody, stirring lyrics and a strong harmonic foundation: the immediately recognizable lead chord progression. Perhaps that chord progression sounded familiar to members of a lesser-known band, Spirit, who wrote a song, "Taurus," with a very similar sound two years earlier. The songs were similar enough that the heirs of Spirit founder Randy California have filed a lawsuit over the songs in Pennsylvania. The 2014 lawsuit over the similarities between "Taurus" and "Stairway to Heaven" is one of many between artists who think another artist has used their intellectual property in a new song. Pop artist Sam Smith recently agreed to give co-writing credit to rock superstar Tom Petty over similarities between Smith's hit "Stay With Me" and Petty's "I Won't Back Down." Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, who performed 2013's massively popular song "Blurred Lines," must pay $7.3 million, a judge ruled, for infringing on the copyright of Marvin Gaye's 1977 track "Got To Give It Up." Kurt Ellenberger, professor of music, said the problem with some of these lawsuits is that they are litigated over the parts of a song that can't be copyrighted. He said a piece of music that falls into the pop, rock, country or folk genres is made, essentially, of four parts: the chord progression, which is the harmonic foundation for the song; the melody, which is the unique musical part of each song that's comprised of 27 Grand Valley Magazine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2015 Fall Grand Valley Magazine

Campus News
Research
Athletics
Arts
Scientific symbiosis
Focal Point
Seidman College expanding EMBA
Sailing at 1/12th scale
Same song, different verse
Q&A Lynn 'Chick' Blue
Off the path
International Education

2015 Fall Grand Valley Magazine

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