If a copyright lawsuit is successful, Ed Sheeran claims he is “done” with music.
One of the top musical acts of his time is the English singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran. With numerous albums and singles that reached the top of the charts, the Grammy-winning “Shape of You” singer is one of the best-selling artists ever.
But right now, a lawsuit threatens to end Sheeran’s career at the height of his fame; if he loses, Sheeran has declared that he is “done” with music.
The estate of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote Marvin Gaye’s 1973 soul song “Let’s Get It On,” is suing Ed Sheeran. According to AP, the lawsuit claims that Sheeran’s 2014 hit song “Thinking Out Loud” contains “striking similarities” to the previous song and thus infringes copyright.
The copyright infringement complaint was initially filed in 2017, but the trial didn’t start until recently. Sheeran grabbed the stage on Monday and vehemently defended the song and himself, calling the accusations “really insulting.”
He challenged Alexander Stewart’s expert witness testimony for the plaintiff. Stewart had asserted that Sheeran’s track’s chord progression was “virtually identical” to “Let’s Get it On.” Still, Sheeran insisted it was a “common progression” in many songs.
According to People, Sheeran called Stewart’s actions “criminal here” and added, “I think what he’s doing is.” “I don’t understand why he is permitted to have expertise.”
To show how standard the progression is, Sheeran reportedly also performed the chords to the beats of several other songs.
In her testimony, Amy Wadge, who collaborated on the song “Thinking Out Loud” with Sheeran, claimed that she was merely employing a fundamental chord progression found in many songs. “I was just playing some simple chords that I knew how to play,” Wadge claimed in court, adding that it was “not possible” for her to have plagiarized another music.
Wadge remarked it was “fairly devastating and pretty frightening because it’s something we did not do.”
If the lawsuit is successful, music will be “done”
Sheeran told People he would stop making music if he lost the lawsuit.
Sheeran told People, “If that happens, I’m done, I’m stopping.”
“I find it to be insulting,” he continued. “I put a lot of effort into being where I am.”
If the plaintiffs win, the case may significantly affect the music business since it may set a legal precedent that leads to more lawsuits being filed against musicians who use similar chord progressions.
Within the music industry, copyright has long been a divisive legal topic; numerous musicians and producers have brought lawsuits alleging plagiarism. Some have been rejected, while others have granted royalties or co-writing credit to the original artists.
Instead of chord progressions, most of these disagreements have involved melodies with comparable tones.
One of the most well-known recent cases also featured the music of the late Marvin Gaye: after a five-year court struggle over the blockbuster song “Blurred Lines,” Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams agreed to pay $5 million to the estate of Gaye, who claimed that the tracks were strikingly similar to two of Gaye’s songs.
Sheeran has also been involved in legal battles of his own in the past; last year, he prevailed in a UK copyright infringement case involving the song “Shape of You.” Sheeran criticized “baseless” musical litigation at the time.
“I’m not an entity, I’m not a corporation, I’m a human being,” he declared. “I’m a spouse, a parent, and a son. I hope this judgment means future frivolous claims can be prevented because lawsuits are not fun. This has to stop, period.
We hope that Ed Sheeran wins this lawsuit because whether you like him or not, it could significantly impact music artists worldwide.
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