After a Manhattan jury found Ed Sheeran's hit "Thinking Out Loud" did not infringe on the copyright of the classic Marvin Gaye song "Let's Get It On," CNN's Chloe Melas and Legal Analyst Areva Martin break down the verdict. #CNN #News
Sheeran went to court for alleged copyright infringement of ‘Let’s Get it On’. Listen to them here
Congratulations to him,..seemed like a money grab from the beginning
Guess who still makes money at the end of this? LAWYERS
These people need to quit looking for a payday.
You better believe that their lawyers told them “You have a great case.” when they were really thinking “They don’t really have a great case.” but we want those fees.
Exactly! Hopefully, he’ll be awarded his court and lawyer expenses.
These people that look for a quick buck from others are simply parasites of society. Thank goodness justice prevailed.
@Wilfredo Rosario Ortiz … “ These people” … you are of course referring to singers and musicians 🧐
Suing over a chord progression? Hahahah
copyright is fucking ridiculous
Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti Do. The people from The Sound of Music want to talk to you.
There could be no doubt that the lawsuit was utterly frivolous and shameful. There have actually even been songs about the four chord progression having been used by many other songs before. Just look for Axis of Awesome here on Youtube!
Glad to hear this. The Blurred Lines case was also a crock. This would be like the first guy to make a movie with a car chase or a gunfight demanding that no future filmmakers are allowed to have a car chase or a gunfight.
He stole it.
Blurred lines was not a “crock”, it was clearly infringed, Robin Thicke even admitted it.
@petaF I feel sorry for you, that is only reason to listen to music.
If you listen to the chords, bass, and particularly the drums of Gaye’s song and compare it to Sheeran’s they are essentially IDENTICAL. Not to mention the conspicuous, brazen “come hither” theme in BOTH songs. That’s no accident. Sheeran is a shameless BS artist and most juries, like most YouTube commenters, don’t understand how songwriting works.
This is all because Sheeran dared to write a song with more than 2 cords.
For all of us wondering… what’s the difference between 2 and 4 chords. What does that even mean?
For those not familiar, this is a common tactic of a budding scam industry of copyright trolls. They basically send threats to sue artists because their music shares a commonly used song element, then demand payment to stay out of court. This never should have went to trial, it was obviously a scam to anyone with the slightest musical knowledge.
Did I see that Ben Crump was their attorney? Omg!😂
@RBS no intelligent person would have taken this case. It never had any merits.
Incorrect. If you have ears, listen to 2:14. The same tempo, chords, bassline etc, just in a different key.
Awesome, happy for him.
Thanks God he won! Glad he defended his reputation and didn’t settle an agreement. I’m sure the Townsend are not done yet, they will continue to dissect other music and find an easy prey. This is not their first attempt.
Make them pay Sheeran’s legal bills…these people have to be stopped
Frankly, he should counter sue for legal bills and defamation.
Finally some sense. Show Ed some love on his new music out today <3
I would like to suggest to anyone that thinks this verdict is wrong to go watch the Axis of Awesome 4 Chord song. Basic chord progressions like this are just how music is made. Ed could have said in court that he totally got the idea for his song from Let’s Get It On and he still should have won.
Ed Townsend would be so embarrassed by his money-grabbing family.
I’m guessing the family were running dry on the old royalties, probably from mismanagement and lavish lifestyles. So they turned to professional grifting. Am I wrong?
That’s more than just four chords. There is a lot of time and notation similarities. The words are very different. I agree that you can only arrange things so many ways and it make me not want to play music anymore. No matter what I wrote. Someone would point out that it’s pretty much already been done but with different words. When it comes to the arrangement everything is different. This is a win for freedom of creativity everywhere even though he was probably subliminally drawn to that inspiration. Young me would be happy.
Oh I definitely hear it. Definitely similar and things are different but it absolutely does.. There are rappers that want paid because another rapper said four words in their song that they said in their song.
Just because a kid had never heard a song before doesn’t mean it’s not copyright infringement when he gets his fans to let him off.
I dont know how anyone can hear that song and not think it was inspired by marvin gaye’s song. He must have really good lawyers. I always felt this was more egregious than what Robin Thicke was being accused of.
At some point, art is going to look a lot like each other. Because people, whether they’re aware of it or not, are always influenced by their environment, and the things they’re exposed to. And sometimes, they come up with something similar just out of sheer luck, even without exposure.
Personally though, the “thinking out loud” and “let’s get it on” is barely similar at all. I have no idea why it was brought up in court and even merited litigation.The sense of entitlement from the plaintiff thinking they owned a common chord arrangement is insane. Money grubbin opportunists lost today and I’m glad for it.
Whenever i hear thinking out loud, never do i think marvine gaye’s lets get it on