Songwriter Benny Mardones and his writing partner Robert Tepper have accused Cyndi Lauper, the composer of the Tony Award-winning musical, in a federal lawsuit of lifting elements from their chart-topping song “Into the Night” for the show’s empowering finale “Raise You Up.” The musicians want the judge to make Lauper and the show hand over its “profits directly and indirectly attributable to [the] infringement,” and then ban “Raise You Up” from being performed.
5 comments:
Kinky Boots has been out for how long? If this were a relevant law suit, they wouldn't have waited 8 years to actually try to do anything about it. I'm exhausted with all these frivolous lawsuits that have been floating around recently. They probably made a lot of money off of the initial song, and if the songs are similar, they're probably making money off of people who see Kinky Boots and get reminded of it. I doubt the song is stolen, because honestly, I don't think when people write songs that they think "hmm. Let me make this song sound purposefully exactly like a song that came out 30 years ago." The likelihood of Lauper ever even hearing the song, let alone remembering it well enough to copy it purposefully is so low, as is the likelihood of her trying to steal a song. If anything, she probably just thought of a melody and didn't realize it was vaguely similar to a top 10 hit from the 1980s. Seriously people, the world is not out to get you.
Having listened to both songs after reading this article, it is only after replaying that phrase a few times I began to hear any sort of similarity between them. I was really straining to find it and it really just sounds like Cyndi Lauper just happened to write a similar note progression for similar words. The two songs are entirely different when taken in their entirety, but whatever. I think it’s a bit silly and superfluous and money grubbing to sue over something that seems this minor, but I believe the artists are entitled to fight for what they believe to be a stolen portion of their work. They have every right to sue for profits they believe due to them. My biggest issue is the banning of the song as a whole. It’s entirely different in its message than “Into the Night” and is meant to be an empowering anthem. Restricting its performance feels entirely selfish and unfounded.
Ok so, this article is six thousand different kinds of wild. We start with an explanation of the lawsuit, how similar the two songs are and in what way. And that all is pretty standard ‘article-about-a-lawsuit” stuff. They don’t really go into a lot of detail about the specifics of the case or the trial. They mostly stick to the interpersonal arguments, which is a little off brand for Forbes, since they are usually considered a more professional source. And the case itself is pretty boring, the only really interesting tid-bit is that the song that was supposedly copied was famous, and often those songs are little-known. It kind of negates the full impact of a financial motive, you know. And the article goes on for a bit more, more run-of-the-mill details, then BAM. The last two paragraphs drop a pedophilia bombshell. And then it just ends. And those details are not really delved into or anything. I’d be really interested in a little more information.
“Then ban it from being performed” ? How is this legally possible to ensure no one anywhere could do this. This is a load of crap. I am far too lazy to actually listen to the songs back to back to form my own opinion but something tells me coincidences do happen. Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber is well known for copying or modifying themes of famous pieces of music, most of which are not copyrighted anymore. Heck, the motif in Beauty and the Beast is a derivation of Carnival of the Animals which Alan Menken happily acknowledges. I side with Lauper on this case, it seems like they are way to excessive in their demands which usually seems to me that they are scrounging for lots of money and not because they want a wrong righted. I really hope they fight this to the end, but if they do discover a purposeful misuse of a melody, I would hope they get what’s coming.
I love "Kinky Boots". I saw this show kind of on a whim because there were same day tickets that were kind of cheap and my parents said yes. It was a super good show and it had a lot of messages that were really impactful and could make a lot of differences. I think that it is super useful to today and is relevant to a lot of topics. I think that copyright is something that is super finicky and I hate that there is no statue of limitations because people can take as long as they want to sue. This musical has been around for so long and I am so sad that it is facing these issues because I really think that it does not need these difficulties. I think that it is dumb that they are allowed to sue so late in the game because it should not be fair.
Post a Comment