New Pittsburgh Courier: A jury awarded Marvin Gaye’s children nearly $7.4 million Tuesday after determining singers Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams copied their father’s music to create “Blurred Lines,” the biggest hit song of 2013.
Marvin Gaye’s daughter Nona Gaye wept as the verdict was being read and was hugged by her attorney, Richard Busch.
2 comments:
I don’t understand why this is such a big deal in the music industry. The songs similarities come from the beat in the back, which yes are quite similar, and yes is probably copied, but why is this song being hit and not others? The Pop culture has stolen beats and melodies from each other for as long as I can remember. Often I turn on the radio and I think it is one song, and it turns out to be a “new” song by another artist. There is a plethora of stealing four note melodies so why aren’t all artists who have done this being sued? That being said, I am glad that Blurred Lines is being hit with something because the song is disgustingly offensive towards women. I am very tired of the music industry promoting sexualizing women. It has become such a problem that whenever I hear about a woman being objectified, I cannot help but think that this is just a society in which that happens. I was once told that although my work ethic and skills were excellent and that even though I was wearing a large flannel which was buttoned to the top, I was still distracting men at work and so I needed to keep that in mind more. Excuse me, but I was wearing the least revealing item of clothing I could possibly wear. I should not have to be blamed for the fact that people do nothing but objectify women. This is why I never want children. I wouldn’t ever want to bring someone up in a world where I would tell them it is normal to feel uncomfortable at work because of your body; I wouldn’t want to teach my children how to defend themselves at night and carry a weapon with them at all times. This society has digressed to a barbaric one where objectifying women is completely acceptable in inappropriate situations and I find it disgusting.
I honestly think this whole trial is ridiculous. I’ve heard both songs and they sound similar but I think they are different enough to distinguish themselves apart from one another. This whole court case is a sham, which probably resulted from Marvin Gaye’s children hearing the similarities and seeing a profitable opportunity to sue. If it was really a copyright infringement and serious matter why has it only been brought to public attention recently, two years after the song “Blurred Lines” was released? Shouldn’t the Gaye family have heard the song right away and caused outrage then while it was still in its hay day being released and popularized? It makes no sense to me why you’d wait to make a big stink over something unless it is purely out of profiteering and an opportunity to appear in the media. Personally I think the case should have been thrown out right away. The songs while very similar are distinctly different, and carry their own style, and weight. In all art ideas, images, and styles are copied and reinvented all the time, hip-hop artists lay over old popular tracks everyday so I don’t see the problem here, even if the song Blurred Lines was based off of Gaye’s music. Yes, it is hard to draw the line between plagiarism and homage, but in this case in particular I think the entire thing is a sham.
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