Cowbells, subdued organ thumps, “party” noises and playful bass lines.
On March 10, a federal jury in Los Angeles decreed that these and more elements were “borrowed” by songwriters Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke and resembled Marvin Gaye’s 1977 track “Got to Give it Up” far too closely for “Blurred Lines” to be it’s own original composition.
More than $7.3 million was the cost for copyright infringement; $4 million in damages and $3.3 million of the earnings of Thicke and Williams’ 2013 hit were given to two of Gaye’s children, Nona and Frankie Gaye. What is believed to be one of the largest damages awards in a music copyright case, students and even industry professionals here at the University of Memphis continue to disagree on the court’s decision.
“The music consisted of the same instruments and the same type of music, but the beats were different,” 20-year-old Music Education Junior Anthony Little said. “In Robin Thicke’s song there were three cowbells, all at different times, and in the Marvin Gaye song there was only one cowbell. Little things like that make it different, the bass line was different, and I don’t really think it should have gone to court.”
21-year-old theatre major and film minor Preston Michael Simpson held an opposing view. The Memphis Junior called out Robin Thicke’s songwriting technique’s in general.
“This isn’t the first time Thicke has made something that sounds like Marvin Gaye,” Simpson said. “In the movie Four Brothers there’s a specific song by Marvin Gaye called “Trouble Man” and then when you listen to “Elevatas” which was Track 7 of [Thicke’s album] Sex Therapy it has the exact same thing; The beat, the whole music, Thicke and Gaye’s vocal tones. It was very similar.”
Despite the opinions of college music fans, no one knows better here at the U of M than Music Industry head Ben Yonas. The music producer/engineer and artist manager has fourteen years of industry experience gaining credits with the likes of Mos Def, TV On The Radio, Ledisi, Shayna Steele, Crystal Monee Hall, and Spencer Day. Yonas also manages a roster of artists that includes Grammy Winners Mickey Hart and Lady Rizo. Yonas highlighted both sides of the Thicke vs. Gaye debacle, but ultimately made it clear where foul play was due.
“Honestly I’m torn because I can see both an upside and a downside here,” Yonas said.
“While I cannot deny that there was some copyright infringement, I would have rather seen that case settled a long time ago with co-publishing, the same way that Sam Smith shared a piece of “Stay with me” with Tom Petty.”
The melody to Smith’s April 2014 track drew the attention of Petty’s lawyers back in October for resembling Petty’s rock-radio hit “I Won’t Back Down,” but the 12.5 percent writing credit was given peacefully, out-of-court, to both Petty and Electric Light Orchestra singer-composer Jeff Lynne who co-wrote Petty’s tunes on the 1989 album Full Moon Fever. U of M Professor Yonas explicitly described how much healthier a situation Smith and Petty’s agreement was in comparison to Robin Thicke and Pharrell’s court battle with the Gaye family.
“Co-publishing is always a better option than lawsuits,” Yonas said. “Do I think money should have been paid? Yes. I wish they could have done it the way it’s normally done. Sam Smith did not have to go to court with Tom Petty. They were smart enough to say ‘You know what there is a similarity in the hooks of our two songs, ‘Stay With Me’ does kinda sound like your song Mr. Petty so here’s 20 percent of the publishing.”
Yonas shared what he expects to take place in the music industry as a result of the lawsuit.
“I think it will have a harmful effect. Instead of people getting in the room and talking about their differences they’re going to reference this case” Yonas said. “Prior to this the largest payment ever was just over 5 million for a Michael Bolton song because Michael Bolton infringed on an Isley brothers song. Now the bar is set even higher."
Yonas sympathizes with the struggles of creating an entirely original piece of music, but stresses the importance of knowing where the line between “borrowing” and “copyright infringement” exists. Yonas insists that songwriters “borrow in an intelligent way,” but that when it comes to just chords, the rules become a little more lenient.
“I think from an artistic standpoint if people are trying to learn songwriting, you need to study the past. You have to be comfortable knowing that you can take a chord progression from a song and create your own version of it, but that you’re not infringing on anyone’s copyright,” Yonas said. “Copyright law does not protect the combination of ‘this chord’ to ‘this chord’ to ‘this chord.’ Frankly, there are not that many chords to go around. Chances are The Beatles already came up with the progression.”
The seasoned producer and engineer stressed the lesson now learned by “Blurred Lines” singer Robin Thicke; to tread carefully when attempting to “recreate an era” or sound. Yonas has already absorbed the outlines of the case to teach his Music Industry students.
“If I’m encouraging kids to songwrite or teaching them songwriting, I want them to go study everything. I want them to listen to Marvin Gaye and analyze it, and if they want to pull the chord progression from it they’re actually legally allowed to,” Yonas said. “Thicke just took it over the top. It wasn’t just the chord progression; it was the groove, it was the tempo, it was that ‘party vibe’ in the background. It was the melody, the hook; you can’t just blatantly take all those elements and call it a new composition.”
Yonas’ ultimate and professional opinion is that if Robin Thicke had admitted to recording a “tribute song” and had approached Marvin Gaye’s publishing company offering them 10%, the entire court case could have been prevented.
