Why Are So Many Singers Being Sued?

Adele is being accused of plagiarism… Again. Following complaints from the Brazilian composer Toninho Geraes, a judge has ordered her song, ‘Million Years Ago’, be pulled from circulation. Toninho’s lawyer said that his song ‘is a landmark for Brazilian music which has often been copied to compose successful international hits’. Back in 2015, Turkish music listeners also accused Adele of copying a 1985 single by Kurdish musician Ahmet Kaya – and she’s not the only one facing these claims.

Recent years have seen a growing number of lawsuits against high-profile artists like Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams and more. But why are so many pop stars being sued?

Why Are So Many Singers Being Sued?

The trend of famous singers being sued can be explained from a few angles. Firstly, Western music is generally made up of just 12 notes. This limits compositions to some extent, though there are still thousands of combinations to be made from this handful of notes – so this alone can’t explain the boom of plagiarism lawsuits. So what else is at play?

In short, repetition sells. The modern shift to algorithmic streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, and our decreasing attention spans, mean that people are drawn to familiarity – so commercial success is guaranteed by recycling old hits. We’re seeing the same trend in the film and book industries too, with remakes of old stories dominating the market. Think unexpected sequels like Gladiator, Freaky Friday, Beetlejuice and Moana, and upcoming re-adaptations like Nosferatu and Frankenstein – easy money makers.

It’s almost inevitable that artists will produce similar-sounding tracks. Whether you think they should be sued for it, however, is a matter of opinion. Here are some other singers fighting their corner.

5 Singers Who Have Been Sued

Ed Sheeran

Perhaps the highest profile plagiarism case in recent years involved Ed Sheeran. The heirs of Ed Townsend, co-writer of Marvin Gaye’s 1973 hit ‘Let’s Get It On’, sued the ‘A Team’ singer for lifting key elements from the song in his track ‘Thinking Out Loud’ (2014). Sheeran won the lawsuit after the judge deemed the chord progression of ‘Let’s Get It On’ to be so generic that protecting it would give the song a huge monopoly.

Prior to this, Sheeran had been sued and won another lawsuit, which accused him of copying Sami Chockri’s 2015 track ‘Oh Why’ in his song ‘Shape Of You’. Sheeran said in a statement that the financial cost was only one part of it. ‘There is a cost on creativity [too],’ he said. ‘When we are tangled up in lawsuits, we are not making music or playing shows.’ He also threatened to end his musical career if he lost the lawsuit, so his fans can be grateful that he didn’t.

Coldplay

Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’ (2008) is a beloved song, instantly recognisable thanks to its arresting opening notes. But it came under threat in 2009 when guitarist Satriani accused the bank of copying his 2004 instrumental track, ‘If I Could Fly’.

Eventually, the case was settled out of court. In a statement, Coldplay said: ‘with the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani, if there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him.’

Lana Del Rey

In 2018, Radiohead started suing sad-pop singer Lana Del Rey for her song ‘Get Free’ (2017) due to perceived similarities with their hit single (also their debut) ‘Creep’ (1992). The band demanded 100 percent of royalties from Del Rey’s track – and while she denied the similarities, she reportedly offered 40 percent to settle the matter, which the band rejected.

It’s not totally clear what happened next. In fact, Radiohead denied ever suing Del Rey, instead requesting writing credits. Regardless, during one of her later performances in Brazil, Del Rey told the crowd: ‘Now that my lawsuit’s over, I guess I can sing that song any time I want, right?’ implying it has all been settled.

Sam Smith

Last year, Sam Smith and Normani won a lawsuit against Jordan Vincent (along with his songwriters Christopher Miranda and Rosco Banlaoi) who accused the duo of plagiarising his ‘Dancing With Strangers’ (2015) with their ‘Dancing With a Stranger’ (2019) hit. The accusing trio claimed Smith and Normani’s track ripped off the ‘lyrics, pitch sequence, melodic contour, metric placement of the syllables, rhythm, feel, and structure’ of ‘Dancing With Strangers’ – but a judge disagreed, pointing out that none of the claimed similarities were unique enough to be protected by law.

The Beatles

The Beatles is one of the most iconic bands of all time – but even they weren’t free of legal battles. In 1969, the publisher of Chuck Berry’s song ‘You Can’t Catch Me’ sued the Liverpudlians for their song ‘Come Together’ which was a copyright infringement, he claimed. The songs have a similar structure and melody, as well as an identical line – and John Lennon did end up paying to use it. It seems there were no hard feelings after the case was settled as Chuck Berry and John Lennon appeared together on The Mike Douglas Show just a few years later.