Thanks to “sodapop” for submitting a comment about this one.
Lady Antebellum took home Song of The Year at the 2011 Grammy Awards for their song “Need You Now”. In 1982 British progressive rock band The Alan Parsons Project released “Eye in the Sky” which shares a resemblance to the “Need You Know” melody. Have a listen!
Lady Antebellum - "Need You Now" (2009)
The Alan Parsons Project - "Eye in the Sky" (“1982”)
It’s “too late to apologize” for cribbing from OneRepublic. “I can only imagine” what MercyMe’s lawyers might do.
Please help! The Lady A song Things People Say sounds like an 80s song as well. Just the beginning part. Its been bugging me!
Hi Sarah, I just took a listen. I’m not sure what it might be. Maybe somebody else here could help!
I don’t know if it’s the part you’re looking for, but i just took a listen and the beginning is similar to Clapton’s “tears in heaven” although not much. I don’t remember if that’s even rom the 80’s.
Give me a break, people. Of course it’s a ripoff.
You think that if someone wants to rip off a song they would do it in the same key and tempo? Different octave, tempo and key doesn’t mean the song is original if the melody is the same.
The idiot who said that there are only 12 notes in Western music should study a little math, namely the formula for permutations.
For 12 notes, the formula would be: 12! = 1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8x9x10x11x12 = 479,001,600
That’s over 479 million people. And I’m only considering combinations of notes. You also have to consider the length of notes (whole, half, quarters, etc.), the time signature and other factors. The odds of someone independently coming up with the same melody, a combination of the same musical phrase, are astronomical.
By the way, Lady Gaga ripped off “You and I” from “What’s up” by 4 Non Blondes and Coldplay (“Yes”) ripped off Joe Satriani (“If I could fly”). If I were Alan Parsons, I’d be pissed.
That’s true, but mainstream music isn’t atonal, it’s diatonic with varying degrees of chromaticism, or use of passing semitones, so that’s roughly 7 notes, except pentatonic patterns can be desirable and it can only take two, three or four notes, etc. for us to recognise a similarity. If you watch Will We Ever Run Out of New Music, the guy in the video states that there is really too much room to move and our brains aren’t really interested in that; instead our brains like to come up with melodies that are connected to others.
This does complicate legal matters and so the most plausible scenarios are the ones that should be considered, for example, I wouldn’t want to consider the possibility of premonition-that the one who came first came up with the song by predicting that someone later would write it.
I am a songwriter who’s had songs on the radio and I’m telling you that record companies ENCOURAGE their artists to write and record songs close to something that’s been a hit already and artists want to be ON the radio so bad that they’ll do it! It’s all about MONEY, especially in Pop, Contemporary Christain and Country. Every songwriter and artist wants a hit on the radio and they don’t care how they get it. It’s all a bunch of crap which is why I don’t listen to the radio anymore. Labels and publishers tell their writers and artists to “write a song like this”. There’s a saying in the record business: If you hear a good song, write it’. Enough said.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the perspective. It’s a tough place to be as an artist and sometimes it might seem like the only way to “make it” is to give in. I would think some artists can at least use that initial “sellout” hit to jumpstart their career. It’d be nice to make a living doing something you love but when you compromise yourself, eh, that’s a different story.