When you undertake a long project there can be unforeseen developments. If you are building a house, long periods of rain or a late thaw can delay the construction. If you are planning a vacation, one crazy Arab with a faulty interpretation of Islam can cancel your flight. If you are doing a series of blog entries related to songs, one stupid jury decision can force you to write about a song you intended to ignore.
Unless you have been ignoring the news it is hard to miss that Messrs Thick and Williams lost a lawsuit to the heirs of Marvin Gaye for copyright infringement for the song Blurred Lines. I am all for juries in criminal trials. But maybe it is time to rethink letting ordinary people handle complex civil cases.
I have said several times that I am not equipped to provide any real insight into the merit or craft of music. I don't play an instrument, I cannot read sheet music, I haven't even taken a music appreciation class. But if someone were conducting a jury trial in the Northern District of Indiana, I'd probably be over qualified to sit on a jury panel and decide whether one musician infringed upon another. To get on a jury you have to be almost completely disengaged from the rest of the world, lest your 'outside knowledge' somehow taint the jury and you reach a decision based on anything other than the incredibly limited slice of reality presented at trial.
Based on what I have read the jury probably got this wrong. Plenty of knowledgeable people, you know the type not allowed on a civil jury, are writing a lot of intelligent commentary about how the jury got this wrong. Let's "sample" some of this commentary:
"You've made it illegal to reference previous material," said Butler, also a managing director at music start-up WholeWorldBand. "I'm never going to come up with something so radically different that it doesn't contain references to something else." Gregory Butler
"This may put a smile on the Gaye family's face, but it's a dark day for creativity, and in the end, this will be a net loss for music fans," he said. "Good news for lawyers and the bitter everywhere." Joe Escalante, an early member of the Vandals punk rock band and an entertainment law attorney
Regardless of the ultimate verdict, the suit could have a chilling effect on creators, especially in an era when most every song in recorded music history can be accessed in seconds. What artist will acknowledge specific inspiration when it could be used as evidence in a copyright infringement suit? Randall Roberts Los Angeles Times
There that dispenses with the critical analysis section of this post. If you still think the jury got it right and you are not one of Marvin Gaye's offspring go get a helmet and never go outdoors without putting on said helmet first.
Now for the part that matters. The rant.
I am not going to knock on Marvin Gaye's song. If you like that sort of thing, then you like it and I am not going to change you mind. But Got To Give It Up is missing one critical piece of Genius that makes Blurred Lines great. (And it is not the rapey vibe. Look at Gaye's title, it is way more rapey.). I'll assume you've seen Blurred lines and just include a link to Got To Give It Up so you can try to figure it out.
To keep my post a little less cluttered I am just including the link, which is here.
Do you have the Answer?
Think about it
Ok, here is a link to Blurred Lines to help.
Still stuck?
Here is a hint, Try watching each of those videos on mute.
Did you take the hint? Did you notice that Got To Give It Up was completely pointless without the sound? Ok, how about Blurred Lines?
Exactly Blurred Lines works perfectly well on mute. It has some indescribable quality that makes it work even if the music is gone. Answer this question jurors, "If Gaye's work was integral and essential to the creation of Blurred Lines then why is Got To Give It Up unwatchable nonsense on mute and Blurred Lines is still completely captivating?" Huh, until you can answer that question you owe Messrs Thicke and Williams an apology, jury members.
There, that's my 2 cents on this topic. Go out an enjoy a great Spring day. Or watch Blurred Lines again, Thicke and Williams are going to need those Vevo royalties unless the appellate court rights the jury's error.
Later
Bob
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