Hey
can you send me some of your music? What’s your Spotify username? Can I drive
so you can be the DJ? I am asked those questions all the time, and I’m not
saying that to brag. I’m saying that to show you how much importance and focus
music has in my life. I find thrill in discovering the new, peace in
reminiscing in the old, and spark curiosity in listening to the tracks that get
overlooked by the big leagues. That being said, you can assume that I’ve
exposed my ears to a variety of tracks, some good, some bad, and some awful.
Yet in the midst of my research, I have found an absurd amount of repetition.
Musicians must keep releasing new albums in order to stay on the Billboards
watch list, yet they have to be careful not to plagiarize. Artists today are
trying to please the public with new innovative music, yet some seem to have
struggled with making something original.
How
should we expect a musician to come out with something brand new, again and
again? I find it amazing when an artist releases something that is different
then anything I’ve ever heard before. I mean really, think about it, when did
music actual emerge? They say about 30,000-60,000 years ago there was a massive
cultural explosion that initiated many different art forms (Black, 2013). Yet
the first musical instrument ever recorded was the Divje Babe flute, which was
discovered in 1995 that is said to have been between 43,000-60,000 years old
(Black, 2013). Crazy right? And society expects and hopes that musicians can
come up with something completely new with every song, even though music has
been around for tens of thousands of years? Luckily for these musical artists,
hundreds of instruments and devices have been invented to help created
different sounds and mix together to create the beautiful noise that us music
lovers live to listen to. Yet, even with all these amazing new discoveries and
inventions, some artists have struggled with the concept of making something
original.
To
prove this to you I’ve examined a few of many cases that have blown up the
internet with discussions about how they have heard that exact track before,
and now they are hearing it again, with only the lyrics that differentiate the
two. In 1990, Vanilla Ice released a new track called “Ice Ice Baby” which
reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 list (Lynch, 2015). This song pulled in many fans,
yet many haters. Listeners and critics pointed out how similar Vanilla Ice’s
track was to “Under Pressure,” which was a hit track release nine years before.
Ice denied the accusation at first, but then paid both artists, David Bowie and
Queen, royalties to avoid court (Lynch, 2015). In April of 2013 Sara Barielles
released her new song “Brave” which reached number 31 on the Billboard top 100
(Shortlist). Four month later Katy Perry appeared on the radio with her track
“Roar” which has the exact same music, with new lyrics and a new rhythm to it.
Yet again, society and critics pointed out the similarities. Sara spoke out and
said that Katy was a friend and no harm, no foul. On top of that, Katy’s co-writer said Roar was
written before Brave was ever released, to help keep her image pure (Shortlist).
I’m calling bullshit. How can she be friends with her and not have heard her
track? Speaking of hearing tracks and getting inspiration, Mark Ronson and
Bruno Mars released “Uptown Funk,” which closely resembles The Gap Band’s track
“Oops Upside Your Head.” Mark and Bruno credited The Gap Band to having helped
the write their hit track to avoid any accusations and any court hearings
(Shortlist).
What
about Robin Thicke? He dominated every news station and magazine covered after
releasing his hit “Blurred Lines.” Although it was a hit for its upbeat tempo
and catchy lyrics, the reason it conquered every headline was for stealing
elements of his music from Marvin Gaye. Gaye release “Got to Give it Up” in
1977 and his children accused Robin Thicke of copying the same track, claiming
it as his own to reach Billboard’s top hits chart (Fox News, 2015). After a
trial found him guilty of copying Marvin Gaye’s song, Thicke ended up paying 7.4
million dollars to Gaye’s children, although he claimed that he never copied it
(Fox News, 2015).
I
only showed you a few, yet it is insane how many artists are copying one
another’s music. But are they copying it because they are lazy, or are they
copying it because they are inspired? We will never know, because no one will
ever own up to it. They claim their songs are original, but if you open up your
ears, you’ll hear for yourself that they clearly are not. So I invite you to
close your eyes, open your ears, and witness it for yourself.
Works Cited
Black, John. "The Origin of Music." Ancient Origins.
N.p., 28 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Oct.
2015.
Lynch, Joe. "8 Songs Accused of Plagiarism That Hit No. 1
on the Billboard Hot 100."
Billboard.
N.p., 12 Mar. 2015. Web. 2 Oct. 2015.
News, Fox. "You Decide: Does "Blurred Lines"
Sound like "Got to Give It Up"?" Fox
News. N.p., 11 Mar.
2015. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.
Shortlist. "Uptown Funk and 14 Other Tunes That Allegedly
Rip Off Other Songs." Shortlist. N.p.,
n.d.
Web. 3 Oct. 2015.
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