Coldplay Sued

[Mistral]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081205/ts_alt_afp/entertainmentusmusiccopyrightcoldplay

Anybody familiar with the Satrianni piece? Is there any merit to this?

 

[Electric Coleslaw]

They are similar. However, both tunes are a bit simplistic and using chords structures that I'm sure are in hundreds of other songs.

 

[Twilight]

Satriani piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMcjXo8ZuqE


Coldplay "Viva La Vida"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE

 

[TheBrew]

Besides a passing resemblance, I don't really hear it, especially not enough to sue.

 

[Captaindemotion]

For the most part, I actively dislike Coldplay and I think that Satch is one of the greatest guitarists of all time. But I am not hearing plagarism here. Certainly no more than Satriani's Satch Boogie rips off Van Halen's Hot for Teacher or his Big Bad Moon ripped off ZZ Top. Get a grip, Joe!

 

[Phillip Culley]

Another song Viva la Vida's being accused of copying?

Ever since I heard the song for the first time I thought the opening of it sounds very similar to Alizée's 'J'en ai marre!'...

 

[Scout101]

A radio station today on the drive to work played the two songs together, and they sound similar. They then played them overlaid with each other, and THAT is enough for me to think the case has merit. Not just similar sounding, but the timing matches perfectly too. Actually, with the extra guitar work, the blend is an improvement...

 

[auntiehill]

Hmmm..... the chorus is very similar. I don't know if it's close enough to win a lawsuit, but it's very, very similar.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I've always thought that the drum beat/ riff from In My Place was an outrageous lift from Led Zep's When The Levee Breaks. Then again, Zep were known to copy the odd riff or beat themselves ...

 

[JonathonWally]

I've always thought that the drum beat/ riff from In My Place was an outrageous lift from Led Zep's When The Levee Breaks. Then again, Zep were known to copy the odd riff or beat themselves ...

known to copy the odd riff or beat?

Do you listen to a lot of Zep? Jimmy Page is very open about how he LARGELY took blues riffs. That was the point of their sound.

 

[mrcoaster]

Satch can always sue Coldplay for just making crappy music. That lawsuit would be a slam dunk.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I've always thought that the drum beat/ riff from In My Place was an outrageous lift from Led Zep's When The Levee Breaks. Then again, Zep were known to copy the odd riff or beat themselves ...

known to copy the odd riff or beat?

Do you listen to a lot of Zep? Jimmy Page is very open about how he LARGELY took blues riffs. That was the point of their sound.

I was aiming for subtle understatement, hence the ... ending! And yes, I listen to a lot of Zep, they're my favourite band.

 

[gblews]

They are similar. However, both tunes are a bit simplistic and using chords structures that I'm sure are in hundreds of other songs.

Very true. I'm from the 'there's nothing new under the sun" school of thought when it comes to pop songs. I was listening to the Opie and Anthony radio show a while ago and they played the Coldplay song and another song, not Satriani's, that sounded virtually the same.

Seems this tune has been written several times by different songwriters.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

As an example of the "nothing new under the sun," there's a mash-up that takes Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Oasis' "Wonderwall," and Travis' "Writing Just to Reach You," and matches their chord progressions, and strings them together as a single song. (It's called "Boulevard of Broken Songs" by Party Ben if you're interested.) There are some chord progressions that get used and reused over and over.

 

[stoneroses]

Satch can always sue Coldplay for just making crappy music. That lawsuit would be a slam dunk.

Good point. They are way over hyped. Their early stuff if ok but what they do now is just soooooooo boring.

 

[exodus]

A radio station today on the drive to work played the two songs together, and they sound similar. They then played them overlaid with each other, and THAT is enough for me to think the case has merit. Not just similar sounding, but the timing matches perfectly too. Actually, with the extra guitar work, the blend is an improvement...

I guess you caught Opie & Anthony too.

Yep, I agree. It's the exact same song.

Coldplay doesn't have a chance at winning this.

 

[Takeru]

As an example of the "nothing new under the sun," there's a mash-up that takes Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Oasis' "Wonderwall," and Travis' "Writing Just to Reach You," and matches their chord progressions, and strings them together as a single song. (It's called "Boulevard of Broken Songs" by Party Ben if you're interested.) There are some chord progressions that get used and reused over and over.

I bet they all just copied Pachelbel.

 

[SlyCardie]

That's similar but I really can't imagine it's enough to sue over. There are tons of songs that have incredibly alike chords in a number of songs.

 

[JonathonWally]

As an example of the "nothing new under the sun," there's a mash-up that takes Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Oasis' "Wonderwall," and Travis' "Writing Just to Reach You," and matches their chord progressions, and strings them together as a single song. (It's called "Boulevard of Broken Songs" by Party Ben if you're interested.) There are some chord progressions that get used and reused over and over.

Metallica built a career on writing 8 albums in the key of E. This really isn't anything new....


One of the most famous rock songs of all time (Stairway to Heaven) is just an A minor pentatonic.

If you really want to boil everything down to technicalities. I could go on.

 

[USS Mariner]

Satch can always sue Coldplay for just making crappy music. That lawsuit would be a slam dunk.

Good point. They are way over hyped. Their early stuff if ok but what they do now is just soooooooo boring.

If you really wanted to "get" Coldplay, sue Chris Martin for being a self-absorbed douchebag.

I happen to like their music, and I like his singing. I just don't like it when his mouth does things other than singing.

If this is the second singer to accuse Coldplay of theft, doesn't that mean that the other two "copied" off of something else? I honestly understand how you feel if you hate Coldplay (I did myself, until about two years ago,) but this is retarded.

This is plagiarism. Coldplay has nothing on Timbaland's bullshit.