The plagiarism lawsuit against British musician Ed Sheeran has found him to be innocent on all counts.
In music, the influences are so numerous that a songwriter today who brings a work into the world often has in his luggage a plethora of musical references acquired by listening to other composers and composers.
Imagine, Bach was said to have plagiarized Vivaldi. The same is true of Mozart, from whom it is said that he copied Bach, when we know that he rather studied the fugues of his predecessor, this great composer of the Baroque period. Let’s say rather that the genius of Mozart was influenced by the genius of Bach. And in turn Beethoven, another genius, was inspired by Mozart. All for the greater good of music. Isn’t music like a relay race that takes place over the ages?
Today, in the world of pop song, it is heartbreaking to see the growing number of lawsuits filed for plagiarism. Obviously, musicians have always inspired each other. What’s wrong with that? But stories of plagiarism are legion.
We sue at the slightest suspicion, hoping to reap the big loot. This is what the heirs of Ed Townsend, American musician and producer who co-wrote the song did. Let’s Get It On (1973) with Marvin Gaye, against singer Ed Sheeran, claiming that in his song Thinking Out Loud (2014), he had copied a musical passage from the song composed in 1972. The trial held in New York therefore concluded that Sheeran had created his song independently.
If the 32-year-old singer had lost his lawsuit, he would have had to pay the tidy sum of 100 million to give it to the heirs of Marvin Gaye. And Sheeran even claimed that if he had been found guilty, his career would have come to an abrupt end. That says it all!
To see in video