Thread: Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" appeal backed by over 212 artists/musicians.

http://news.sky.com/story/robin-thic...snt-sf-twitter

More than 200 musicians are backing Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke and TI in their legal fight over the hit song Blurred Lines.Lawyers for the trio have appealed against a copyright infringement ruling last year, which saw them ordered to pay Marvin Gaye's descendants £5.6m ($7.4m) - later reduced to £4m ($5.3m).

The soul legend's children had sued, claiming the biggest song of 2013 copied Gaye's 1977 hit Got To Give It Up.

Now 212 musicians, including composer Hans Zimmer, R Kelly, and members of Linkin Park, The Black Crowes and Three 6 Mafia have filed a brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals expressing concern about the ruling.
The musicians say the ruling could have "adverse impact on their own creativity, on the creativity of future artists, and on the music industry in general".

The group - which also includes members of Weezer, Tears For Fears and Fall Out Boy - goes on to say that the two songs "do not have similar melodies; (they) do not even share a single melodic phrase" and contends that the similarity is about "feel" and "groove".

The brief also notes that Marvin Gaye was heavily influenced by artists including Frank Sinatra, Smokey Robinson, Nat 'King' Cole and James Brown.

How do you feel about it Northman?

It's so annoying.

That North insists on changing the font making it really hard to read.

Originally Posted by BroncoJoe

It's so annoying.

That North insists on changing the font making it really hard to read.

Stop being grumpy and let that young man style!

Not sure to be honest. On the surface it bothers me only that artists make a really huge deal out of downloading/sharing and have even attempted to sue some people who have done those kinds of things. But then when artists end up plagiarizing willingly or unwillingly another artist they want the freedom to do so without consequence. Now, i have no idea how much a like both Blurred Lines and Got to Give it Up (both songs i like) are but if an artist ends up copying someone else's work and they make money off of it they should be held accountable to those standards. I remember when Vanilla Ice did Ice Ice Baby and ended up using a sample from Queen and then tried to say he rearranged the actual riff but in reality he really didnt. At least not enough to distinguish a real difference from the other song. To my knowledge guys like Puff Daddy had to get permission to use samples from bands like The Police, David Bowie, etc when he did his most famous release back in the 90's. So even if Thicke did not mean to use the Marvin Gaye sample he is still responsible to address the issue when it arises. Its understandable that an artist may at any point subconsciously use a riff or beat that they might have heard before for a song they are creating but it doesnt exclude them from being sued financially for it. IMO

Originally Posted by BroncoJoe

It's so annoying.

That North insists on changing the font making it really hard to read.

Say what? You hated the green so i have been making orange ever since. Get your shit in order Joe!!!

Originally Posted by Northman

Say what? You hated the green so i have been making orange ever since. Get your shit in order Joe!!!

It's not the color now, it's the font style. You make it Time New Roman or something and it shows up small. Just post the damn thing!

Originally Posted by Von Kinger

Stop being grumpy and let that young man style!

Shut your mouth.

Originally Posted by Northman

Not sure to be honest. On the surface it bothers me only that artists make a really huge deal out of downloading/sharing and have even attempted to sue some people who have done those kinds of things. But then when artists end up plagiarizing willingly or unwillingly another artist they want the freedom to do so without consequence. Now, i have no idea how much a like both Blurred Lines and Got to Give it Up (both songs i like) are but if an artist ends up copying someone else's work and they make money off of it they should be held accountable to those standards. I remember when Vanilla Ice did Ice Ice Baby and ended up using a sample from Queen and then tried to say he rearranged the actual riff but in reality he really didnt. At least not enough to distinguish a real difference from the other song. To my knowledge guys like Puff Daddy had to get permission to use samples from bands like The Police, David Bowie, etc when he did his most famous release back in the 90's. So even if Thicke did not mean to use the Marvin Gaye sample he is still responsible to address the issue when it arises. Its understandable that an artist may at any point subconsciously use a riff or beat that they might have heard before for a song they are creating but it doesnt exclude them from being sued financially for it. IMO

Puffy realized that he didn't want to be sued into oblivion and just paid that shit out. That was a business decision that kept him out of court.

What gets me about this situation is that I've heard reasonable arguments from both sides of the isle about whether he copied it or not. I would guess that this song seems to have hit the grey area of the subject matter right smack dab in the middle. Maybe the artists who agree with Thicke are doing so because they want to copy for free, or maybe it's because they think he's substantively correct. I would wager in the middle.

This case is really interesting, though.

Originally Posted by broncojoe

it's not the color now, it's the font style. You make it time new roman or something and it shows up small. Just post the damn thing!

ok joe

Originally Posted by Northman

ok joe

MUCH BETTER!

Nerd.

Originally Posted by BroncoJoe

MUCH BETTER!

Nerd.

Next im going to get an online speak and spell for your ass. lol

Or, you can just post like a normal human!

Dolt.

Yea, im abnormal. You are the ONLY guy who cant read my shit. Tell your wife to buy you some glasses old man!

No, I'm the only one that comments on it! I'm sure it's annoying to everyone on earth.

PS - the word DOLT is vastly underused. I'm going to focus on utilizing it as often as possible.

It's an obvious rip off of Marvin Gaye's song but they changed it up in enough places and obviously the lyrics are completely different. It would be tough to rule on this.