Copyright Craziness: Radiohead Claims Lana Del Rey Ripped Off Its Song
Is it "Creep"?
Musicians, or their lawyers, have increasingly sensitive ears, leading them to hear strong similarities between what most people would consider different songs. The results could have a chilling effect on creativity.
The latest example: Radiohead is suing singer-songwriter Lana del Rey, she says, for supposed similarities between her recent song "Get Free" and Radiohead's 1990s hit "Creep." The two tracks don't sound very similar to me, but here is a comparison:
It seems a weaker case even than when the estate of Marvin Gaye sued the creators of "Blurred Lines," claiming the hit 2013 song was a rip off of Gaye's "Got to Give It Up." Those two songs undeniably shared something of a sound, though as Pharrell Williams explained in his testimony, they diverged considerably in the details. That should have been enough for the judge to dismiss the case. Unfortunately, the court ruled in favor of Gaye's estate, awarding it $7.4 million in damages, which Gaye's family has been fighting over ever since.
A few months before that, representatives for Sam Smith and for Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne came to an agreement to share song-writing credits and royalties for Smith's "Stay With Me," which had some resemblances to Petty and Lynne's "I Won't Back Down." Smith claimed never to have heard the older song, but he agreed to settle anyway.
According to del Rey, Radiohead wants "100 percent" of her publishing for the song. She told concertgoers yesterday that she may have to pull the song from future pressings of her album Lust for Life.
Radiohead itself was successfully sued for ripping off a chord progression and a melody from the Hollies' 1972 song "The Air That I Breathe." The song that allegedly borrowed the Hollies' music? None other than "Creep":
Maybe it's a small miracle Major Lazer hasn't come after Del Rey for the title. They have a song also called "Get Free" on their 2013 album Free the Universe. Uh oh.
