Ed Sheeran threatens to quit music for good if he loses copyright trial against Marvin Gaye’s estate

How can so much blandness be contained in a single person, I'm just fascinated by him.

[...]

It was his mistake. He did a live mashup of the songs which emphasized the similarities. The songs are very different though and he should win the lawsuit.

"Blurred Lines" was different because it was intended to evoke "Got To Give It Up" in sound and theme.

It's easy to tell who the famous and influential people are now with Twitter's new blue check policy. They're the ones without one.

Who thought selling blue check marks was a good idea? I'm sure they're making a mint because folks with 50 followers all have them. But my one friend who had one because she's a legitimately successful actor let her followers know that she wouldn't be paying $14 a month or whatever to keep it. Why would anyone famous pay for it when they're in a sea of blue checked trolls?

And Instagram did the same thing 🙄

Men at Work and their song Down Under was a wild ride of IP lawyers making a killing 30 years after the song was released, and, pretty much also killing one of the band members when they made him personally bankrupt, and all for a a couple of notes on a flute. There should be time limits, and a minimum amount of a song for it to be considered, not just a chord progression which feels like some lawyer has trademarked the colour yellow.

r3 Not because they're similar, because they're common, and like Sheeran himself said, why would he deliberately make a connection in front of thousands of people?

He’s lying. He’s already committed to being performer, mentor and judge on American Idol while Katie and Lionel suck up to the King next week.

He gives me the shivers and not in a good way. When I hear him sing the words 'touch' or 'kiss' I am slightly nauseated.

If only.

Sounds like a lazy professor with automation bias accusing a student of using chatgpt to write a paper. Sheeran needs to video himself composing the songs, otherwise, Hal the computer will be interfering with the “Sheeran creative flow”. Been happening in academia for months, just use sousveillance (filming himself) to shut it down.

R5, I'm not familiar with the Down Under case. What song were they accused of lifting?

Promise? Heard one song and that was enough. Oh, and he looks like an ugly leprechaun.

^^^ If Sheeran is running a scam, let MLK family shut it down. If artists in this day and age want to stay ahead of the problem, they need to film themselves composing, just to reduce the liability attack surface and costs to avoid having to defend oneself with attorney fees. I agree the attorneys are opportunistic in generating more fees for themselves.

^^^Marvin Gaye family

MLK?

He won't quit shit. Face the music and do your thing.

I'm so disgusted by the way Ed Sheeran completely ripped off MLK with his album "I Have a Dream".

I hope his family and the family of Eric Garner go after him for his follow up album "I Can't Breathe".

Sometimes composers copy without even realizing they're doing it.

Good luck to the Gaye family. We're still waiting for our credit from Madonna.

Go ahead, quit music. Even if you win your case. Please quit.

Isn’t this like the third or fourth time he’s been through this? Didn’t Kandi Burruss already get a chunk of his money for Shape of You? He seems to have a problem with originality. Maybe when you’re a white boy making money off of r&b you should be a little more careful. Especially a red headed one at that.

R19, that would be more on Lenny Kravitz than Madonna. It's not the first time he blatantly sampled someone else's music without giving them credit.

"It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over" is a straight rip-off of Earth, Wind, and Fire's "That’s the Way of the World."

How did he happen? He's a glorified street busker with zero charisma.

I loathe Sheeran's music.

But the Gaye estate didn't deserve the huge award they got for that Robin Thicke song. Those people are assholes and deserve to lose.

The fact that this turd is responsible for "Shape of you" is reason enough to quit. However, the Marvin Gaye group is greedy and really stretching it now.

AI will make new Ed Sheeran music if he doesn’t.

His last two singles have flopped hard. He's over anyway.

[quote]How did he happen? He's a glorified street busker with zero charisma.

I don't understand it, either.

Him too R29.

R28 What 's a single?

Kind of arrogant on Sheeran's part. Seems odd that he would give up his livelihood because of what a court would decide that has nothing to do with his long-term creativity and performing.

He’s far from over.

We can only hope

r31 The opposite of a partnered.

I didn’t think any of his music sounded good enough to be ripped off from Marvin Gaye

I don’t blame him because that lawsuit is absurd. You hear similarities but it’s not exactly the same. I also thought his Shape of You infringement of No Scrubs was a bit of a reach because the melody of the verses in No Scrubs aren’t distinct enough that if the lyrics are different it cannot be qualified as wholly unique. His infringement was not of the No Scrubs popular hook, it is the rhythm and melody of the way Chilli is singing the verses.

oh no

He built his career from copying others so I hope his fug ass disappears

I can't stand Ed Sheeran, but I don't think the similarity is strong enough to justify this lawsuit. There are only twelve notes in Western music; it's inevitable that there will be overlap between songs.

R11 It was the traditional children’s song “Kookaburra” - Men At Work probably thought it was public domain at the time (I thought so myself), but it was written by a schoolteacher in 1934. Very similar to the history of “Happy Birthday to You” which only recently became public domain.

This isn;t a bad thing. His music sucks

He's the King of department store playlists everywhere

I have always heard the similarities! I was always surprised they never sued.

Ed having a MARY moment!

Of course he won’t quit.

I think he just wants to quit performing like a coin operated monkey and this is a reason why.

This song.

This song is one of the top songs lasted the longest on the charts after Old Town road.

I probably want to quit music too if I had to sing it every night.

I know nothing about the case, but yes ~ he should quit.

[quote] He’s fat and over.

FIFY

I've been a huge Marvin Gaye fan for decades. Only a simple-minded idiot without basic understanding of music or concept of songwriting would vconsider Thinking Out Loud to be a copyright infringement of Let's Get It On.

[quote]R47 This song is one of the songs that lasted the longest on the charts after Old Town Road.

That is a really annoying song.

To be honest this song sounds more like Let’s Get it On than Shape of You sounded like No Scrubs to me. And Sheeran lost that case. I don’t think he copies directly from these artist. But he created melodies that he likes, not realizing he likes them because he’s heard them before. Although consciously or unconsciously doing it doesn’t matter in a court of law. If it’s there, it’s there.

And this is a mashup of Let’s Get it On and Thinking out Loud. I don’t know if Let’s get it on borrowed the chord progression from somewhere else. But Sheeran’s version and LGIO are very similar.

And r51 I think he’d want to give up considering how much money he’d lose AGAIN, and the scary fact that as a songwriter he can’t make music without referencing someone else’s work. I think he parroted so many artist in creating his own persona (as many up and coming artist do). But his never evolved into something of his own.

Marvin Gaye’s estate are a bunch of cunts. You don't gotta like Ed to hope he wins.

R54 Marvin Gaye’s estate IS NOT suing. I wish people would stop saying this. The co-writer of the song’s estate is suing. The go-writer’s family of Let’s Get it On is suing.

And this guy here says that although the Melodie’s are completely different, the instrumentation, chord progression and tempo are exactly the same. Listen for yourself.

LOCK ‘IM UP!

[quote] Ed Sheeran threatens to quit music for good if he loses copyright trial

Olson Johnson: Hold it, men. He's not bluffing.

Dr. Sam Johnson: Listen to him, men. He's just crazy enough to do it!

Harriet Johnson: Isn't anybody going to help that poor man?

I don't hear the similarities either.

Are there any music theory queens here who can talk chord progression and such and let us know whether there is a legitimacy to the claim?

Facts? We don’t need your stinkin’ [italic]facts!

Please do Ed

Why does he keep getting sued for the same thing? You’d think he’d have learned from that lawsuit re: “The Shape of You”.

James Blunt is way more talented, just less lucky.

The Nice Guy Ed Sheeran image is clearly as fake as as his music is boring. I hope he loses and quits. Three things have always bothered me about Ed Sheeran:

1) Saying he "wants to be known as the nicest and hardest working guy in the industry." Barf, what kind of fake ass narcissist says this?!

2) Bug-Eyed Beatrice slicing his face open while mock knighting him. Just imagine the vapidness of this dinner party scene with Beatrice and her sycophants, and the totally undeserved self-importance of everyone involved.

3) Twee late night texts with Taylor Swift that get shown to the media, where Ed opines that as "multi-platinum lyricists" the two of them should be more creative in their rhyming. He thinks he's the voice of a generation.

Win-Win.

Does anybody still listen to him?

His new single Eyes Closed is flopping despite massive radio reach.

He's only talented in making generic, bland, boring, paint by the numbers radio fodder. He completely sold out after Shape of You and now every one of his songs sounds exactly the same.

Zero originality or creativity.

How the fuck this guy has $85 million AND a Grammy is beyond me.

r53 Honestly, how people didn't immediately hear that it's the exact same chord progression (and still can't) is beyond me. I noticed it from day one.

Maybe it's because I'm a musician, play by ear, and have perfect pitch (yes I'm one of THOSE assholes). My ear is very sensitive to melodies, notes, etc. I can also tell when a song has been transposed from its original key even if it's off by just half a cent. It's actually not as "cool" as it seems. Sometimes, you'd like to be able to miss certain things because being able to pick up on every little detail can take the joy out of experiencing performances, recorded songs, etc.

That said, every single fellow musician I know had the same experience when they first heard Sheeran's song. I used to do gig work in bars where audience members could request songs. Whenever Sheeran's song got requested, whoever was playing it would almost always segue into "Let's Get It On" without having to change any chord progressions. That, alone, drive's the Gaye family's point home, to me.

^ Also, that mash-up just transposed Sheeran's version by a half-step from D to D# to match the key that Marvin Gaye originally sang it. In other words, Sheeran's song has elements of the same chord progression, but the key is a half-step lower.

For the love of good music, I hope he loses.

R69 People have a basic simple ear with music. That’a why Ed Sheeran is popular.

R52 He probably does. It’s not uncommon for artists to copy another song and turn it into something else. A few tweaks avoid a lawsuit. Artists admit to ripping off old songs all the time and they can openly say it cause they’ve tweaked it to avoid being sued lol.

Like for example, Coldplay admitted to taking Kate Bush’s drumbeat for “Running Up That Hill” for “Speed of Sound”. But if you listen to it, you can hear the imitation but it’s not exact at all. She could never sue over it.

Music has always been about taking the same chord progressions and making songs over them. Listen to blues and folk.

But what happened was white British men stole enough R&B / blues music from black American artists and got rich and it became way more taboo. The Rolling Stoned and Zeppelin being the main culprits.

Pharrell Williams used to be good at stealing until he got caught for “Blurred Lines”.

Nelly’s “Hot In Here” steals from Chuck Brown’s “Bustin’ Loose” but Pharrell tweaked it around so much there wasn’t a lawsuit. Nelly even references “Bustin’ Loose” in the song.

But it’s usually no accident when this happens.

When you’re writing a song, it’s common to start off with something familiar to make the foundation of the song. Music isn’t all from scratch, usually you hear a song and are inspired to write something like it and that’s how it forms.

R73 Oh scratch that, he actually did legally sample “Bustin’ Loose”.

Well even with that said, he redid the music and it’s no different from what Sheeran did with the Marvin Gaye song.

And to connect all the dots and be a drama queen.

People shit all over hip-hop for sampling and reworking music and call it unoriginal. But let it be a British white boy stealing from the same pool of 70’s R&B music that hip-hop samples and it’s “oh my god what has he done wrong!”.

Michael Jackson took the baseline of Billie Jean from a Hall and Oates song and admitted it. Musicians borrow from each other.

Taylor Swift Wildest Dreams sounds like LDR Without You. LDR was sued by Radiohead but didn't intentionally mean to copy.

[quote]Honestly, how people didn't immediately hear that it's the exact same chord progression (and still can't) is beyond me. I noticed it from day one.

Because they aren't.

It's like saying that Usher's Without You and U2's With or Without you are the same. You can even sing Without You accompanied by With or Without You's music. Many have noted the similarity between the two. And yes, they're done a mashup of the two songs which actually sound rather nice together.

There are superficial similarities and then actual ripoffs that only someone which is why I asked for someone with technical music theory training to opine about them - like this guy does with Radiohead's Bond song.

I can’t listen to Sheeran’s music because of the red hair.

Only recently have I learned that Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars have been sued out of their collective wazoos for "Uptown Funk."

The verse of Jewel’s “Foolish Games” sounds like Joan Baez’s “Diamonds and Rust” to me.

I thought it was amazing when Dave Grohl admitted to taking all of his drum riffs from - most notably the intro for Smells Like Teen Spirit - from funk bands like the Gap Band, Cameo and Tony Thompson. And no one ever connected the dots.

Blind about him

R54 You dumb ass stankin ass bitch. Learn the motherfucking facts.

He could always sweeten the deal and say he’ll kill himself

R73 Hot in Herre is sample of Chuck Brown’s song, Bustin Loose. You are dumb as rocks. Nothing was stolen.

R82 Of course he is lying. He just wants to get the public on his side before the trial starts. Maybe bring attention to his new music which is flopping.

If you can sing a different song over the music of another like Stevie did with Prince's Little Red Corvette, it's not stealing. If the melody is the same, well now, you just better stand back.

"Let's Get It On" always reminds me of Dr Evil having sex with Frau, which is not an image I want in my head.

Bye Ed

[quote]Because they aren't.

[quote]There are superficial similarities and then actual ripoffs that only someone which is why I asked for [bold]someone with technical music theory training[/bold] to opine about them

r77 First, they have the same chord progression - I iii IV V. This chord progression is present in the verses and first portion of the chorus of Sheeran's song and throughout the majority of Marvin Gaye's song. The only difference is that Sheeran's song is written in the key of D major and Gaye's song is written in E-flat major - exactly 1 half-step of a difference (I said it was transposed for that mash-up video to D# earlier, but D# is enharmonic with E-flat, so that really doesn't matter).

Second, I'm a classically trained musician (piano) and majored in music with a concentration in Music Education (secondary). I started piano lessons when I was 4 on top of being able to play by ear. To say that music theory, as a concept, has been drilled into my brain for most of my life is an understatement.

Thanks R90. Is it possible to find that same chord progression in any other songs that preceded the Marvin Gaye song? In other words, did that progression originate with "Let's Get It On"? How many possible chord progressions could there be in popular music? I would imagine that in the history of music, I iii IV V would have appeared at least once before 1973.

r91 No problem! It's definitely present in a lot of songs. In fact, chord progressions are, indeed, shared across a variety of songs and genres routinely. The most popular (or overused depending on your mood) is the I-IV-V-I chord progression. You'll find that progression in a lot of popular classic rock tunes, pop songs, etc. However, in this situation, it's not just the chord progression that is similar, but the rhythm/cadence of its use in both songs. That's what makes it stand out and the similarities become more obvious.

It may be harder to catch because Ed Sheeran's vocals are doing a completely different cadence than Marvin Gaye's over the chord progression. But if you listen to an instrumental of both songs without the vocals, the chord progression coupled with the rhythm of both songs is definitely the same and it's harder to deny the similarities. That's what makes Sheeran's case a little harder to defend, here, in my opinion.

He wants to quit music over an obvious trash family money grab?

I'm not sure that I've ever even heard an Ed Sheeran song. So if he loses, it won't affect me in any way.

[quote] But he created melodies that he likes, not realizing he likes them because he’s heard them before. Although consciously or unconsciously doing it doesn’t matter in a court of law.

r52 It happens to the best of us.

If you disparage the Gaye family you ARE racist. Because they aren’t behind this lawsuit. Carry on now cunts.

I have no idea who Ed Sheeran is, really. I know he's a musician but I couldn't name any of his songs. Everyone copies Marvin Gaye and the Beatles - it's a given.

R96 why are you bringing race into this??? Race has nothing to do with any of this and never has.

Just In: Andrea Mitchell reporting that a verdict has been reached on the Sheeren/ Marvin Gaye case. Stay tuned.

definitely stole it.

can't stand him. good riddance

Well legally he didn't, the judge says.

Yeah. He didn’t. We can’t let ridiculous lawsuits like this win. It’s dangerous.

Good. Now they should overturn that No Scrubs suit.

[...]

He won.

In case that part wasn't clear in the last five or six posts.

R104, it wasn't Marvin Gaye's family that sued him. It was the heirs of the man who wrote the song.

Who are probably penniless. Now they owe lawyers fees.

Possibly the MOST ridiculous trial ever held.

R106 Why bother. He is an ignorant ass bitch, posting things online he thinks to be true.

Damn! So close

He could die

Here he goes again, talking about how T Swift is the only person big enough to get him. The ego on this cross eyed dipshit.

Yes he's very odd looking. He's down right ugly.

He and Taylor should procreate and make the most egotistical nepo babies that ever lived.

The song doesn't sound similar to me but I try to his music if I can.

It’s surprising to me that in our shallow world a man as ugly as him has such a successful career. And it’s not like he’s got some great musical gift

I kind of figured he was a culture vulture when "Sing" came out. It's like he put every Doobie Brothers hit in a blender and released this puree version of.