"... something catchy to fill the bar before each repeated phrase ‘I’m in love with your body’. The use of the first four notes of the rising minor pentatonic scale for the melody is so short, simple, commonplace and obvious in the context of the rest of the song that it is not credible that Mr Sheeran sought out inspiration from other songs to come up with it. As to the combination of elements upon which the defendants rely, even if Mr Sheeran had gone looking for inspiration, then Oh Why is far from an obvious source, given the stark contrast between the dark mood created by the OW Hook in Oh Why and the upbeat, dance feel that Mr Sheeran was looking to create with Shape.”
Wrote the judge, quoted in "Ed Sheeran wins Shape of You copyright court case" (London Times).
Sheeran is also quoted in the article. He wants people to know how much it hurts to be sued for copyright infringement, to be portrayed as a “magpie.” He's hoping that because he took on the burden of fighting the lawsuit rather than just settling, there will be fewer claims like this in the future.
Here, I put the 2 songs together in a playlist so you can compare. Sheeran admits he understands why the writers of "Oh Why" thought he'd ripped them off, but he had not, he says, heard the song before he'd come up with the idea used in "Shape of You."
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The use of the first four notes of the rising minor pentatonic scale
Am I missing something here? How can a scale be both minor & pentatonic? A pentatonic scale is a scale with only five whole tones in it (e.g. C-D-E-F#-G#-A#(=Bb)-C). A minor scale depends on the placement of half-tones in the scale (e.g. C-D-E for C major, C-D-Eb for C minor). If anything, it would seem to me that a pentatonic scale would sound like a major scale.
Any musicians care to weigh in on this?
Sounds nothing alike to me at all. Glad he fought and won.
I am so sick of these cases! There are only a limited number of notes in a scale and an even more limited set of chords used in most pop music; so, yes, a lot of bits are going to be similar. I don't know anything about either song, but my bet is that Ed Sheeran's has charted higher and made more money and this just a case of sour grapes.
The judge is right IMO. Very common musical device.
Pretty sure he’s been in this kind of a predicament before? I didn’t hear anything similar and didn’t know Sheeren had an oh why- I always sing oooo-eye ooo-eye… but then- I need the words to the Great Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. My joke for the day ;0)
Writing songs is hard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
I have handled many copyright infringement litigations. Music copyright has recently been rendered even more unpredictable by a jumble of decisions based upon conflicting musicology expert reports that reflect a certain incommensurability between abstract music theory and the ownership of musical intellectual property. The problem is rendered acute by the increasingly uncertain scope of the element of "access" (needed to prove that plaintiff's work was in fact copied)in a world in which most of us have a certain sort of access to everything, and real "access" to far less.
The type of decision that gave Ed Sheeran a pass is not likely to have much effect on the number of claims, because the rule upon which the court relied (a difference in "mood" between otherwise similar music) has a low degree of formal applicability, or formal realizability, as Duncan Kennedy used to say.
If you are a successful songwriter, buy lots of insurance against these claims. It is, sadly, a cost of doing business.
It isn't possible to decide a music copyright infringement case without pictures of the people involved.
I’m a complete know-nothing when it comes to musical details, and am usually baffled by these cases when I listen to the two songs being litigated. How does anyone come up with anything new in music anymore? Both perplexing and amazing.
FWIW, I’ve recently become an Ed Sheehan fan, so am glad this went his way. He’s extraordinary open and sincere in the interviews of him that I’ve listened to….hard to imagine he wouldn’t respect other’s work. I don’t think he’s publicly sharing all the songs he’s writing nowadays - perhaps this type of litigation is one reason why. I could be wrong.
The woman in the Shape of You is so attractive, it's criminal.
Compare Big Daddy Kane's
Warm It Up Kane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXjPLUJ6EVk
To
Amy Winehouse's
You Know I'm No Good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-I2s5zRbHg
But, I do keep in mind that Hip Hop artists often sample other music, so it's possible the writer's of Warm It Up Kane pulled this riff from elsewhere.
On the on the other, you know Amy Winehouse was no good, as even she admits.
:)
This lawsuit's a joke. The more interesting and closer case is the lawsuit claiming Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" rips off Marvin Gaye’s "Let’s Get It On."
A pentatonic scale is a scale with only five whole tones in it (e.g. C-D-E-F#-G#-A#(=Bb)-C).
Actually, the scale you put forth is a whole tone scale (and has six notes, not five). Pentatonic scales have five notes, and they are not all whole steps. The classic, rock guitarist pentatonic scale is the minor pentatonic - 1, minor 3, 4, 5, minor (or dominant) 7 - it fits nicely on a guitar neck without needing to stretch too far.
YoungHegelian said...
The use of the first four notes of the rising minor pentatonic scale
Am I missing something here? How can a scale be both minor & pentatonic? A pentatonic scale is a scale with only five whole tones in it (e.g. C-D-E-F#-G#-A#(=Bb)-C). A minor scale depends on the placement of half-tones in the scale (e.g. C-D-E for C major, C-D-Eb for C minor). If anything, it would seem to me that a pentatonic scale would sound like a major scale.
Yes you are missing something.
C major scale notes: C D E F G A B c
C minor scale notes: C D Eb F G Ab Bb c
C vs. c means 1 octave, i.e. c is one octave higher than C.
Same number of notes in both scales. What major or minor is about is the half/whole tone pattern.
W = whole tone, H = half tone
Major: W W H W W H W
Minor: W H W W H W W
Whole tones (or step) have a flat/sharp note in between them; G-Gb/A#-A.
Half tones have no flat/sharp notes between them; E-F is a naturally occurring half tone, no E#Fb tone.
Flat vs. Sharp depends on what notes are in the scale to begin with.
Pentatonics are just a five note subset of the major or minor scale.
Easy.
Young Hegelian wrote:
Am I missing something here? How can a scale be both minor & pentatonic? A pentatonic scale is a scale with only five whole tones in it (e.g. C-D-E-F#-G#-A#(=Bb)-C). A minor scale depends on the placement of half-tones in the scale (e.g. C-D-E for C major, C-D-Eb for C minor). If anything, it would seem to me that a pentatonic scale would sound like a major scale.
The scale you have listed is the whole tone scale and actually has six tones. The major pentatonic scale starting on C is C D E G A C. The related minor pentatonic scale would be the same pitches but starting on A. A C D E G A.
Am I missing something here? How can a scale be both minor & pentatonic? A pentatonic scale is a scale with only five whole tones in it (e.g. C-D-E-F#-G#-A#(=Bb)-C). A minor scale depends on the placement of half-tones in the scale (e.g. C-D-E for C major, C-D-Eb for C minor). If anything, it would seem to me that a pentatonic scale would sound like a major scale.
Actually, you have given an example of a whole note scale that produces the tonalities of the impressionist French composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Debussy, Faure, Dukas..although Debussy fiercely rejected that label). A pentatonic scale can be found on all of the black keys on a piano. C#, D#, F#, G#, and A#. For simplicity, let's remove the sharps.
A pentatonic scale centered on C would run a whole step to D, a whole step to E (a major 3rd above C), a minor 3rd to G (a 5th above C), and a whole step to A (a major 6th above C. Any tune using this sequence that works around C as a tonal center would be in the key of C major.
Those same pentatonic scale notes centered on the relative minor of C would start at A and run a minor 3rd to C, a whole step to D (a 4th above A), a whole step to E (a 5th above A), and a minor 3rd to G (a minor 7th above A). Any tune using this sequence with a tonal center of A would be in the key of A minor which would be described as a minor pentatonic scale.
A very significant amount of blues-inspired rock music is written in either of the major or minor pentatonic modes. Blues music uses the same pattern in the relative minor but also adds the tritone raised 4th (D#) to the pentatonic run in the typical blues scale.
- Krumhorn
There's a Sci-Fi story out there about the end of musical copyright infringement. In the story, it seems that every song that can be created has been, so no further musical development is allowed. I do not recall the resolution of the story, but perhaps we are approaching that nexus.
Stevie Foster was using that pentatonic scale and it was already time honored.
The difference between a major and a minor scale is where you start and which notes you emphasize. C major and A minor are the same exact notes, but if you start on C, 3rd note is major 3rd, on A, it’s a minor 3rd. You will perceive that difference even if you have no idea why. Similar rules apply to pentatonic, Alman brothers and lynard Skynard liked major pentatonic, BB King and most blues players prefer minor.
The little I’ve heard from this Sheeran fellow has sounded derivative and rather bland. I don’t understand his elevated status, not even a little bit.
I'm no musician, and/but heard almost no similarity in the tunes, on my first (and last) listen. Less than for Zeppelin v Spirit, or Eagles' Hotel California and Tull's We Used to Know, or a few bars in the middle of "Wohin" by Liszt and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."
I calls 'em like I hears 'em. (I hope I recall all the pieces correctly.)
Young Hegelian: A pentatonic scale is a scale comprised of 5 notes, rather than the 7 notes of typical Western scales. That I knew, though I am no real musician, and I just learned through google that you form a p. scale by removing the 2nd or 6th note of a (major or minor) 7 note scale.
Ever listen to a lot of Baroque music?
Many, many examples of common phrasings and progressions.
Think of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons":
dadda DAH duh dah dadda DAH duh dah dadda DAH duh dah dadda DAH duh dah
You'll hear it in many other pieces from that era. Very formulaic.
(Not to mention "too many notes")
I'm not a musician, but I absolutely don't get the basis of the infringement claim. I've listened twice and even knowing what I'm supposed to be listening for, I hear nothing.
I think Sheeran definitely was aware of the other song, and I think he is lying about its influence on his writing of his big hit. In short, he changed it up just enough to get away with it, which is probably the right judicial result.
I think the manic rap in Ed Sheeran's song ERASER sounds a hell of a lot more like "Oh Why" than Sheeran's "Shape of You."
Randy Bachman (Guess Who, BTO) refuses to listen to any music that someone else sends to him for consideration because of the risk of litigation.
This helps to make up for Adele’s stealing his prize.
So Bachman is TCB, Gordon Pasha?
Excellent!
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