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Joe Satriani sues Coldplay


Shawn

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LOS ANGELES – A noted guitarist has sued members of Coldplay, claiming the band's smash hit "Viva La Vida" copied parts of one of his songs.The copyright infringement lawsuit by Joe Satriani was filed Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_en_...ht_infringement

Here's a YouTube clip showing the song comparison...I think Satch has a chance with this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ofFw9DKu_I...feature=related

Edited by Shawn
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FWIW, Satriani's original is not original to begin with. That chord progression & melody weren't some kind of singular work of genius. You could probably pick out a few dozen songs that are nearly identical. It's that messed up thing w/ pop music: we demand originality, but it can't be too weird. Aren't we tired of the guy who comes up w/ a 1-4-5 being lauded for his brilliance?

The only person that mentioned "brilliance" is you.

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Coldplay's response:

"With the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani, we have now unfortunately found it necessary to respond publicly to his allegations." "If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him. Joe Satriani is a great musician, but he did not write the song 'Viva La Vida.' We respectfully ask him to accept our assurances of this and wish him well with all future endeavours."

Bullshit

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It's a simple enough melody that I'd actually buy the coincidence defense--plus I imagine Coldplay might be the types who haven't delved into the Satriani discography. Find the Satriani tune on one of their iPods or in their cd collection, then they've got a case. Unless of course, a tune with the same melody preceding both can be found--then someone else has a case.

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However, George Harrison was found to have 'unconsciously' copied the Shirelles' "He's so fine" with his "My Sweet Lord" and the only similarity to those two songs is just a phrase. I don't believe Coldplay set out to copy Satriani; yes, it could be coincidental, but so was Harrison's. Even if it's a 'catchy phrase', who owns the copyright?

I bet this gets settled and you won't hear anything else about it.

typo

Edited by rachel
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