THOUGHTS ON THE ED SHEERAN COPYRIGHT SUIT

by Freddie Bourne

LOCAL SONGWRITER WEIGHS IN ON THE BRIT'S "THINKING OUT LOUD"

Legal Battle And More

Last month singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran won a protracted court case against the estate of Ed Townsend, co-writer of "Let's Get It On." Filed in 2017, the suit claimed that Sheeran's hit song "Thinking Out Loud" stole key components of the Marvin Gaye R&B classic.

I'm incredibly surprised by how long this case stretched out, especially considering there are so many other songs with a more similar chord progression to Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On." Sheeran bringing in a guitar and playing pretty much over 100 songs with the same type of sound served as the nail in the coffin for the Townsend estate - it was Sheeran going, “Yeah, you aren’t gonna win this.”

This type of stuff has been going on for years with just as many high profile songs - all with different outcomes. One that really comes to mind that I still can't believe is Tom Petty suing Sam Smith, contending that “Stay With Me” sounded similar to “I Won’t Back Down.” I’m still not over it.

One is clearly a piano ballad and the other is a Bruce Springsteen rip-off - a guitar-driven heartland rock tune with a little bit of soul and faster tempo. They are not the same; yet Petty was quoted as saying, “All my years of songwriting have shown me these things can happen. Most times, you catch it before it gets out the studio door, but in this case, it got by.”

Got by? It’s legitimately NOT THE SAME SONG. Maybe if Smith had gotten his day in court Petty would have backed down and shut up. Want to read how it’s done? Look up the KISS/Springsteen "Outlaw Pete" case.