Plagiarism: What It Is and What It Isn't

Okay, after being harangued by dozens of friends and family, I finally listened to Robin Thicke & Pharrell Williams' "Blurred Lines" versus Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDUC1LUXSU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp7Q1OAzITM

I did a quick comparison and found ... this is the most ridiculous plagiarism case victory I've ever encountered. Yes, they sound similar. DUH!!??  So do a lot of other tunes when compared to other tunes in the same vein. But is it plagiarism? Let's dig a little deeper.

First off, I need to confess one thing right off the bat. I know Marvin Gaye's music because it's in my wheelhouse. All I know about Robin Thicke is that he's Alan's kid. Although I may know today's pop artists by name and sight, I never heard "Blurred Lines" until a few days ago. Similarly, I can't identify one Taylor Swift, Justin Beiber or Ariana Grande song; nor do I know ANYTHING current on the pop or country charts unless it's been tastefully redone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-FS96IlOFg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCgZKAYFU3Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_VBTH72bS8

When I do listen to rock/pop music (which is often), it's The Guess Who, Paul Simon, Hall & Oates, Blood Sweat & Tears, Chicago, The Jess Roden Band, Long John Baldry, Billy Joel, Elton John, John Mellencamp, or Nora Jones. Stuff played and sung  by musicians that makes musical sense to me. Just so you know my prejudices. You can now judge what follows and trust that I'm not impartial, nor would I ever claim to be. I'm a trained, schooled musician  - jazz, classical & rock - descended from three generations of successful professional musicians who all supported their families playing and making music. Yes, that makes me a musical snob. Deal with it. 

That being said, I'm not going to bore non-musicians with a bunch of talk about chord progressions, bass lines, drum beats, etc. All I'm going to say here is that musical elements ARE NOT copyrightable (yes, that's a word) in and of themselves. Take the "Bo Diddly Beat" for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeZHB3ozglQ

Now listen to Buddy Holly and Blues Project use the same beat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyTtFNGzFsE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua3zDatgVo4

If musical motives like this were subject to copyright, then over 50% of classical, jazz, rock & pop music would be in violation of plagiarism laws. So now, as a service to anyone interested, let me present a brief overview of what constitutes musical plagiarism (IMHO), and what doesn't.

The Doors "Hello, I Love You" vs. The Kinks "All Day & All of the Night"

Listen for yourself and join me back here when you're done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzM71scYw0M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMWNwHof0kc

And here's a mash up that pretty much makes it so clear a child can understand:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSPQFD4FzZQ

Despite Robby Krieger's protestations to the contrary, I have to believe Jim & The Doors knew they were on thin ice here, British courts sure thought so, which is why UK royalties  for "Hello" are paid to Ray Davies & the Kinks.  My verdict? This case is dicey. Similar? Hell yes! Especially when compared to "Blurred Lines" and "Got To Give It Up." But, honestly, "Hello" & "All Day" are different despite the obvious common elements.


The Romantics "What I Like About You" vs. John Mellencamp's "R.O.C.K. In the USA" vs. John Cafferty's "On The Dark Side vs. Neil Diamond's "Cherry, Cherry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqnw5IfbZOU - Romantics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLQrAKhg-4c - John Mellencamp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQ-6IAS1cc - John Cafferty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlcuAsgc5-c - Neil Diamond

Anyone with even a tin ear knows these songs are essentially the same. They all even use the same clap on the off-beat against the the guitar riff. Bar bands have been mixing and matching and mashing up various elements of these tunes for decades. Just search Youtube and you'll even find Lady Antebellum poking fun at their audience with this inside musical joke:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jumv9vmxe6Y . Once again, these songs are all waaaay closer to one another than "Blurred Lines" and "Got To Give It Up." But no one ever sues over a riff, just like they don't sue over chord progressions. And that leads me into jazz and classical music.

A big part of be-bop music rests in taking standard chord changes, such as found in tunes like "I Got Rhythm" and "How High The Moon," and then writing new melodies over the progressions:

"I Got Rhythm": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-cej-5dkc0

"Rhythm-A-Ning": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Di_mswqhLU


"How High the Moon": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Ji4uG4cac

"Ornithology": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LphuCadyQi0

To non-musicians, "Rhythm-A-Ning" probably sounds completely different when compared to "I Got Rhythm," the same way "Ornithology" seems like a different tune than "How High The Moon." But to jazz musicians playing these tunes, they are infinitely more identical than "Blurred Lines" and "Got To Give It Up"; so much so that early be-boppers got in a lot of trouble lifting standard chord-lines, applying new melodies and crediting themselves as composers. If you still don't hear how "How High The Moon" is "Ornithology," I'll just let Professor Benny Golson demonstrate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq0MuQQLoG8

Play the tunes at the same time, and they layer over each other perfectly.

Plagiarism? HELL NO. You may as well accuse Mozart of ripping off Haydn, and then Beethoven for plagiarizing both of them. Or any other classical composers for taking folk melodies or popular arias and reconstituting them in their own symphonies, concerti or tone poems. Musical elements are like colors in a painter's pallet. It's what you do with them that defines whether you are creating something new (even if it is derivative) or just copying or mimicking.

So what, then, is musical plagiarism? My best case is actually hypothetical. What if Weird Al Yankovich recorded "Eat It" or "Another One Rides the Bus" or "White & Nerdy" and didn't credit Michael Jackson, Queen or Chamillionaire respectively. THAT WOULD BE PLAGIARISM. If you want a real example of real plagiarism, I'll point to Robert Van Winkle's direct lift of the bass line from David Bowie's "Under Pressure", adding a quick grace note while keeping the accompanying piano chords for the intro to "Ice Ice, Baby."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk6NhjD3Dbg

I understand I'm on shaky ground here because "Ice Ice" is a completely different song than "Under Pressure." But since I've already confessed to my prejudices above, I guess you'll just have to consider the source.

What you shouldn't have to consider is whether Thicke & Williams' "Blurred Lines" plagiarized Gaye's "Got To Give It Up." They didn't. Just like countless bands who've written tunes over the Bo Diddly Beat (see above), they lifted a "feel" - a drum beat and a similar bass pattern. The chord progressions are distinctly different, however. Listen to them again now in light of what we've just explored.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDUC1LUXSU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp7Q1OAzITM


Do they sound similar? Sure they do. But now that we've reviewed songs that really are more identical, can you hear that "Blurred Lines" was NOT PLAGIARIZED. Thicke and Williams are hacks I wouldn't cross the street to hear for free. But they're not .. I repeat NOT plagiarists. Obviously, however, I must not know what I'm talking about because a jury of their peers heard the case and sided against them.

A jury of their peers? Really? Thicke and Williams may be devoid of any real talent (IMHO), but they're still working song writers and performers. So a true jury of their peers wouldn't consist of convenience store clerks or accountants, but rather other working song writers and performers. You may as well have retail clerks and salesmen judging whether two rival nuclear physicists violated a patent on a super-collider. Hell, I'm even 100% confident Marvin Gaye himself would have laughed at the idea that Willams and Thicke plagiarized him. I know Marvin's music, and he let his influences seep into his songs all the time. It's called music. Like it, hate it, ignore it, it doesn't change what it is and isn't. And "Blurred Lines" isn't "Got To Give It Up," at least not in any universe where I reside.