Katie Perry..copies tune from rapper

[Baronage-Phase]

Initially I thought...how can anyone own a beat or base to a track? It's a repeated pattern.. and 3 notes. But it looks like she lost and will probably pay up.

Jury finds Katy Perry copied Christian rap song

US singer Katy Perry copied the beat of her 2013 hit Dark Horse from a Christian rap song, a Los Angeles jury has found.

Video below is 5 years old and merges both tunes to show the similarities.

 

[danny la rouge]

I’m afraid this is another instance of people who aren’t musicians not understanding music.

That or all music is plagiarism.

 

[editor]

I’m afraid this is another instance of people who aren’t musicians not understanding music.

That or all music is plagiarism.

More like failed songwriters and lawyers looking to cash on on someone's else's success.

 

[danny la rouge]

More like failed songwriters and lawyers looking to cash on on someone's else's success.

This too.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

The rapper won.
I thought it might be bunkum too but having listened to both pieces played over each other the base line and beat are 99.99% the same.
And I don't know of any other song with that combo.

 

[Schmetterling]

Agree with Lupa; shame though as I really liked the Perry song. Thought it was one of her better ones.

 

[8ball]

Could be an unconscious plagiarism - wasn't Perry once involved with the Christian lot (or am I thinking of one of the other ones)?

Has happened quite a few times.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

Could be an unconscious plagiarism - wasn't Perry once involved with the Christian lot (or am I thinking of one of the other ones)?

Has happened quite a few times.

Could be. I think her dad was a pastor?
The drum beat pattern is the real give away. It's pretty much identical.

 

[8ball]

Could be. I think her dad was a pastor?
The drum beat pattern is the real give away. It's pretty much identical.

Nah - it’s probably “demo 2” on some drum machine that they both had.

 

[danny la rouge]

Could be. I think her dad was a pastor?
The drum beat pattern is the real give away. It's pretty much identical.

The chords to A Message To You Rudy are exactly the same as those to Stir It Up. If you take away the melody and other stuff, you wouldn’t know which one was being played.

In fact, they’re both the same as Earth Angel. And Stand By Me, too.

There’s loads of stuff in music that’s identical but shouldn’t count as plagiarism. If it did, composers should just give up.

 

[editor]

Could be. I think her dad was a pastor?
The drum beat pattern is the real give away. It's pretty much identical.

You think that drum pattern is any way unique?

 

[danny la rouge]

You think that drum pattern is any way unique?

Speaking as a stand in drummer when my band’s normal drummer does his singing and guitar spots, I confess I play exactly the same beat, except for song-specific fills, both times.

 

[8ball]

There’s loads of stuff in music that’s identical but shouldn’t count as plagiarism. If it did, composers should just give up.

Well, the chords won't do it on their own. The way most countries work this out, to my knowledge, wouldn't lead to any damages being awarded. Will depend on whether Perry's lawyers cost more than just paying out, I guess.

 

[Sprocket.]

Andy Summers of The Police said they’d nicked everything they ever did!

 

[8ball]

I remember when I was in a band being really paranoid about accidentally nicking stuff.

 

[danny la rouge]

Well, the chords won't do it on their own.

Nor should drum beats.

Even bass lines is pushing it. Loads of bass lines are just walking round the chords.

 

[Sprocket.]

I remember when I was in a band being really paranoid about accidentally nicking stuff.

We just nicked whisky and cigs!

 

[8ball]

Nor should drum beats.
Even bass lines is pushing it. Loads of bass lines are just walking round the chords.

I think capitalism's notion of intellectual property as a private asset is ultimately untenable.

 

[8ball]

We just nicked whisky and cigs!

Oh, well - we did steal stuff *on purpose*, just never accidentally.

 

[Sprocket.]

Oh, well - we did steal stuff *on purpose*, just never accidentally.

Like headliners box of gaffa tape etc.

 

[8ball]

Like headliners box of gaffa tape etc.

I meant more like a bit of the intro to Pretty Vacant, but that too.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

You think that drum pattern is any way unique?

Combined with the same musical notes ?
Yes... it nails it.

 

[Baronage-Phase]

Just listen to the two side by side.
There's no getting away from it

 

[8ball]

Andy Summers of The Police said they’d nicked everything they ever did!

Tbf sometimes I don’t believe band members when they say this sort of thing years later.

 

[Sprocket.]

Tbf sometimes I don’t believe band members when they say this sort of thing years later.

Sting didn’t.

 

[8ball]

Sting didn’t.

Sting didn’t believe Andy?

 

[editor]

Just listen to the two side by side.
There's no getting away from it

With all the hits he's racked up, there's no escaping the fact that she must have heard his song and copied it note for note.

 

[8ball]

Just listen to the two side by side.
There's no getting away from it

I have now, the notes are actually different, regardless of transposing (the first four notes in the main phrase are all that is the same - even the beat is different).

Legally and musically speaking, this is a bad day for squeaky noises.

(((Sweep’s rap career)))

 

[poului]

Absolute joke of a verdict. If you have to manipulate the track to make it sound congruous with the other, you've already lost your case IMO.

 

[8ball]

Absolute joke of a verdict. If you have to manipulate the track to make it sound congruous with the other, you've already lost your case IMO.

There is, being fair, a fairly strong resemblance to the main groove, but if that was the standard for legal action, Dave Grohl would barely ever be out of court.

And if the rap group had done it second, it would be seen as a perfectly legitimate sample, even if they took it wholesale with no differences and shifted the speed and pitch.

It’s not as bad a decision as with Down Under by Men At Work, but it’s in the ballpark.