Jurors Hit Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams With $7.4 Million In "Blurred Lines" Verdict

gimmesometruth27

the court should have forced them to edit the music video.

they should have to change the "#Thicke" to "#Theif"...

JH6056

tempo_n_groove said:

JH6056 said:

g under p said:

tempo_n_groove said:

g under p said:

I hope Marvin Gaye's family will get a piece of any further sales of the BL song going forward.

Peace

The only reason why they sued... For money.

Remember the song I want candy by Bow Wow Wow? It's a Bo Didley song, no one sued.

The solo at the end of Jump in the fire by Metallica? That's Free bird, again no one sued...

I could go on and on. I believe sampling should be allowed. Chuck D was fighting this years ago.

Oh well...

I'm not sure that is true....this first started when Thicke filed suit to prevent the Gaye family from receiving profits from BL song and other songs. THEN the Gaye family counter sued Thicke...so if Thicke and Pharellel had paid to used song sheets from The Gaye song we wouldn't be here talking about this. Here is some of the story from the beginning.... The New New York Times has more on the story...

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/robin-thicke-sues-marvin-gayes-family-blurred-lines.html

Peace

Agreed, it's not fair at all to accuse the Gaye family of "just wanting money", since they didn't start this whole thing. Pharrell and Thicke started it, in an un-precedented pre-emptive lawsuit to stop Gaye's family from suing before they'd ever even started a lawsuit. Gaye's family got into it as a response to the original suit from Thicke/Pharrell. Whatever else one thinks about sampling, that was obnoxious as heck and I'm really glad they were ruled against.

Why would Pharrel and Thicke sue BEFORE they were sued? That just seems weird. They either knew something or are completely idiotic…

As for Didley and the statement above, I was not aware that he was upset about his music being used.

There is no question or dispute from Pharrell or Thicke's camps with the fact that they filed first. They did, which is why it was such a douche move. And no, there is no evidence or claim that they had notice or a heads up that Gaye's family was filing.

Re: Diddley, I can't remember if it's in a biography or where, but yes, he said something like he felt like he opened the door to rock music and all these other musicians raced through the door and left him holding the knob. That is a an approximate quote, and he was talking about both recognition for shaping rock, and what people got paid.

JH6056

DewieCox said:

I hadn't really paid any attention the first time this came up, I assume when a Thicke and Pharrell decided to sue. Im not incredibly familiar with Marvin Gaye, and maybe the video comparison I watched was a different song, but I don't see how this decision will hold up. Inspired by, definitely. Straight lift of the tune? I, just not hearing it. If this verdict is held up, then John Fogerty needs to write a check to 'ol Saul Zantz.

All I know is, I'd never heard the song before and was driving with my young child, changing stations. She said "Go back, go back, I love that song!", turns out she heard it in daycamp (that's a whole other story!). I turned back and thought immediately it was Marvin Gaye, then knew it wasn't when I heard the voices.

g under p

JH6056 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

JH6056 said:

g under p said:

tempo_n_groove said:

g under p said:

I hope Marvin Gaye's family will get a piece of any further sales of the BL song going forward.

Peace

The only reason why they sued... For money.

Remember the song I want candy by Bow Wow Wow? It's a Bo Didley song, no one sued.

The solo at the end of Jump in the fire by Metallica? That's Free bird, again no one sued...

I could go on and on. I believe sampling should be allowed. Chuck D was fighting this years ago.

Oh well...

I'm not sure that is true....this first started when Thicke filed suit to prevent the Gaye family from receiving profits from BL song and other songs. THEN the Gaye family counter sued Thicke...so if Thicke and Pharellel had paid to used song sheets from The Gaye song we wouldn't be here talking about this. Here is some of the story from the beginning.... The New New York Times has more on the story...

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/robin-thicke-sues-marvin-gayes-family-blurred-lines.html

Peace

Agreed, it's not fair at all to accuse the Gaye family of "just wanting money", since they didn't start this whole thing. Pharrell and Thicke started it, in an un-precedented pre-emptive lawsuit to stop Gaye's family from suing before they'd ever even started a lawsuit. Gaye's family got into it as a response to the original suit from Thicke/Pharrell. Whatever else one thinks about sampling, that was obnoxious as heck and I'm really glad they were ruled against.

Why would Pharrel and Thicke sue BEFORE they were sued? That just seems weird. They either knew something or are completely idiotic…

As for Didley and the statement above, I was not aware that he was upset about his music being used.

There is no question or dispute from Pharrell or Thicke's camps with the fact that they filed first. They did, which is why it was such a douche move. And no, there is no evidence or claim that they had notice or a heads up that Gaye's family was filing.

Re: Diddley, I can't remember if it's in a biography or where, but yes, he said something like he felt like he opened the door to rock music and all these other musicians raced through the door and left him holding the knob. That is a an approximate quote, and he was talking about both recognition for shaping rock, and what people got paid.

They were idiotic indeed.
Lll
Ears


They were indeed. It appears this might have been a case of greed. In that in the beginning RT & PW did not know whether this song BL Was going to be a mega hit. Once it became a mega hit they tried to head off the Gaye family by suing them first hoping they would not pursue the case any further. Awful ballsy of them but it has come back to bite them.

If they knew from the start this song was going to be huge the simple thing would have been to just compensate the Gaye family. They knew how close or that their song BL was an outright rip of Gaye's song but chose to go to a jury trial and got their ass handed to them.

Peace

g under p

Anything close here....?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03yPUlBE5OU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rQxI3-xSeg

tempo_n_groove

So now that the sample/rhythm or whatever was deemed "too much" by a court of law, what's going to happen to every rap song that borrowed the drum beat from James Brown's "Funky Drummer"?!?

It's only in like a million songs...

BinFrog

There are so many songs that have blatantly copied other songs/riffs/etc over the years. This one seems like an odd choice to make a statement with. Why this exact song? Why not Stairway To Heaven, or Creep, or Jet Airliner, or that Coldplay song?

63schoefflin

I think it depends on who was ripped off. I remember Pete Townsend in an interview saying something like, "there are only so many different sounds and riffs possible so over 60 or 70 years there's bound to be some overlaps."

I'm paraphrasing but his point was that I don't think they care.

facepollution

This is a difficult one, whilst the two songs are incredibly similar in vibe, and certain elements are nearly identical, the actual melodies are not the same.

When I first heard the comparisons I thought it was a total rip-off, and it's not exactly difficult to dislike Robin Thicke, but listening to the actual melodies it's not a direct rip - in fact I bet they purposefully made sure the melody was different enough to avoid such suits, since the rest of the song's musical elements are virtually the same!

JH6056

BinFrog said:

There are so many songs that have blatantly copied other songs/riffs/etc over the years. This one seems like an odd choice to make a statement with. Why this exact song? Why not Stairway To Heaven, or Creep, or Jet Airliner, or that Coldplay song?

We'll never know if Marvin Gaye's family would even have challenged it on their own, if Pharrell and Thicke hadn't sued Gaye's family first... maybe they wouldn't have taken it to court at all. Who knows...

Hobbes

I guess I'll be the first to mention Vanilla Ice

BinFrog

That was sampling. Totally different.

g under p

JH6056 said:

BinFrog said:

There are so many songs that have blatantly copied other songs/riffs/etc over the years. This one seems like an odd choice to make a statement with. Why this exact song? Why not Stairway To Heaven, or Creep, or Jet Airliner, or that Coldplay song?

We'll never know if Marvin Gaye's family would even have challenged it on their own, if Pharrell and Thicke hadn't sued Gaye's family first... maybe they wouldn't have taken it to court at all. Who knows...

That was the part that really took the case, that they had the nerve to sue the very man and his music whom Thicke says he beloved. I gather just beloved enough to make some money off them with any thought of compensating the Gaye family.

Peace

moses-i

I don't know how closely people followed this case but it was a pre-emptive suit because the Gaye family basically sent them a letter saying they want 100% ownership or they will sue. Thicke has fully credited Gaye in the past. He openly admitted that Million Dollar Baby was basically based on Troubleman and as such gave song writing credits to Gaye (and his estate). I would also like to point out that the Gaye family is now thinking of suing Pharrell again because they say Happy is a ripoff of Ain't it Peculiar. I love Marvin Gaye (and I enjoy Pharrell and Robin Thicke too) but his family not so much.

jamburger

BinFrog said:

That was sampling. Totally different.

Mr. Van Winkle in his own words... (2:00 minute mark)... https://player.vimeo.com/video/40188633

BinFrog

Regardless, sampling in hip hop is not the same "crime" as stealing a riff. At least legally speaking.

JH6056

moses-i said:

I don't know how closely people followed this case but it was a pre-emptive suit because the Gaye family basically sent them a letter saying they want 100% ownership or they will sue. Thicke has fully credited Gaye in the past. He openly admitted that Million Dollar Baby was basically based on Troubleman and as such gave song writing credits to Gaye (and his estate). I would also like to point out that the Gaye family is now thinking of suing Pharrell again because they say Happy is a ripoff of Ain't it Peculiar. I love Marvin Gaye (and I enjoy Pharrell and Robin Thicke too) but his family not so much.

I'd love to read more about the letter you're saying the Gaye family originally wrote Thicke. What's your source on that? Thanks.

moses-i

Sorry not a letter-maybe a poor choice of words. But they were threatened with a lawsuit, they offered them some money (maybe not enough) and eventually filed a pre-emptive lawsuit. It can't be pre-emptive if there is no threat of a lawsuit. Here's one recent article but I read more or less the same thing several times when this whole thing started mainly on pitchfork and stereogum.

moses-i

rollingstone.com/music/news/blurred-lines-artists-sleep-well-knowing-they-didnt-copy-20150312#comments-section

JH6056

Interesting, that is literally the only place I've seen it stated that the Gaye family sent a letter asking for "whole ownership" or whatever they said, first. The lawyer for Thicke & Pharrell says 2 other things that don't really make sense to me... at the end of the day offering $6 figures after you use someone else's work and now you think they're going to sue you, you can't seriously expect to sound "generous" for doing that! Still seems to me the outcome was exactly right.

And on your last point, actually "pre-emptive" is real even if you just THINK the other side has the right to sue. They don't have to have said a peep- if you're worried they can and will (i.e. now that the song is popular it's all over the media how much it sounds like Gaye), that could cause a pre-emptive move. Our very own US government once made "pre-emptive strikes" without proving or showing the country in question actually threatened us... but that's a whole other thread...