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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