Viva La Lawsuit!
It won't come as a shock to most of you that I am no fan of Coldplay. In fact, I hate them. Coldplay, to me, embodies the spirit of blandness. Their massive audience is a testament to their ability to completely boil out anything interesting (and thus possibly objectionable) from their songs, to the point where everyone seems to like them, but no one is really sure why. "Nobody said it was easy; no one ever said it would be so hard." No one disagrees with this axiom, but does anyone feel moved by it?
Another example: their latest mega-hit is called "Viva la Vida," which means "Live the Life." What kind of life, Coldplay? "Oh, you know, 'the.'" Even Ricky Martin managed to specify that we should live the crazy life! And although Ricky's message was kind of annoying, Coldplay has no message at all. No ideology. Nothing to ponder or embrace. Coldplay is the musical equivalent of the word "the."
Why am I posting this on a law blog? First, because it's been kind of a slow week at N & B. Second, because Coldplay is getting sued! Talented guitarist Joe Satriani has long claimed "Viva La Vida" is a direct rip-off of his instrumental "If I Could Fly." (You can compare the two tracks here.) The long-brewing suit finally landed in a Los Angeles court this week. Check out Coldplay's defense strategy:
Coldplay’s lawyers argued that the similarities between “Viva la Vida” and “If I Could Fly” weren’t enough to warrant a lawsuit. The band’s legal team also stated that Satriani’s instrumental “lacked originality,” and thus shouldn’t be covered by copyright law, therefore preventing “Viva La Vida” from violating any copyrights.
Come on, that's pretty hilarious. In order to defend themselves from a plagiarism suit, Coldplay has had to espouse their own lack of originality! Basically, "this song couldn't have been copied, because there's nothing new or interesting about it! It's unoriginal as a matter of law." I couldn't agree more.
Ok, thanks for indulging me. If any of you copyright aficionados would like to weigh in, I'd love to hear from you in the comments.
Another example: their latest mega-hit is called "Viva la Vida," which means "Live the Life." What kind of life, Coldplay? "Oh, you know, 'the.'" Even Ricky Martin managed to specify that we should live the crazy life! And although Ricky's message was kind of annoying, Coldplay has no message at all. No ideology. Nothing to ponder or embrace. Coldplay is the musical equivalent of the word "the."
Why am I posting this on a law blog? First, because it's been kind of a slow week at N & B. Second, because Coldplay is getting sued! Talented guitarist Joe Satriani has long claimed "Viva La Vida" is a direct rip-off of his instrumental "If I Could Fly." (You can compare the two tracks here.) The long-brewing suit finally landed in a Los Angeles court this week. Check out Coldplay's defense strategy:
Coldplay’s lawyers argued that the similarities between “Viva la Vida” and “If I Could Fly” weren’t enough to warrant a lawsuit. The band’s legal team also stated that Satriani’s instrumental “lacked originality,” and thus shouldn’t be covered by copyright law, therefore preventing “Viva La Vida” from violating any copyrights.
Come on, that's pretty hilarious. In order to defend themselves from a plagiarism suit, Coldplay has had to espouse their own lack of originality! Basically, "this song couldn't have been copied, because there's nothing new or interesting about it! It's unoriginal as a matter of law." I couldn't agree more.
Ok, thanks for indulging me. If any of you copyright aficionados would like to weigh in, I'd love to hear from you in the comments.
posted by Dan at 11:25 AM
16 Comments:
i know it's definitely cool to rip on Coldplay, and stuff, but for whatever reason, i do feel compelled to say that their Rush of Blood to the Head album, minus the maudlin Scientist (to which you've alluded), really had its moments of greatness. they can be a great pop band.
I'm pretty sure they're arguing that Satriani's riff lacked originality, not that their song lacked originality. At least, that's how that defense typically works in copyright. Toney can correct me if I'm wrong.
Fair enough. Everyone is entitled to his opinion, and I don't mean to hipster out on a Berkeley blog. I just think the allegations of plagiarism are interesting.
Also, I agree Rush of Blood was much better than any of their other albums.
Matt, I see the distinction. But I think, by doing so, they are saying the tune itself is unoriginal. Like, this is the kind of thing that's really easy to come by just by mixing a few random chords together. So, in that sense, they are saying that both "Vida" AND "Fly" are unoriginal. That's how I understood it, anyway.
I realize ripping on Coldplay is as original as their music, but there's no way they get this case tossed on MTD or MSJ, esp. when George Harrison got nailed for a less obvious infringement.
some melodies are as old as time, as this link illustrates.
http://theopenend.com/2009/01/31/coldplay-vs-joe-satriani-who-owns-the-descending-melody/
I feel that. I also noticed some similarity in The Killers' "Spaceman" the other day (verse, not chorus). I prefer to think that this song has always been with us, in our hearts, in the ether. Kind of like "All Along the Watchtower," for you BSG fans.
leiter's site says that shelanski is leaving boalt for georgetown. true?
Shelanski was hired by the FTC and is also going to be tenured at Georgetown.
C'mon N&B, blog about something relevant to the Boalt community. Nobody cares to hear your musical critique of Coldplay.
I think you have the blog confused with "On Demand." Personally, I've stopped reading Leiter for various reasons. As for Shelanski leaving, this has been in the rumor mill for a couple of years now.
lol sure armen
So did H*thaway not like Boalt?
http://www.law.yale.edu/news/9399.htm
"coldplay is the shittiest fucking band I have ever fucking heard" - Chuck Klosterman
I FUCKING LOVE COLDPLAY! they are sooo original, i luv it. i want to marry them all and their original music.
lol.
yes! so true!
coldplay rocks. try to read the lyrics for viva la vida. you're talking nonsense. they're amazing. Shleanski is indeed a great professor.
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