Coldplagiarism: Round 3

[rinks]

Grammy nominees Coldplay have been sued by rock guitarist Joe Satriani, who claims the band's song Viva La Vida uses one of his riffs.

In court papers filed in Los Angeles on Thursday, he said the song used "substantial original portions" of his 2004 instrumental If I Could Fly.

Satriani, 52, wants a jury trial and is seeking damages and "any and all profits" for the alleged plagiarism.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7766683.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


I know the Satriani track, but wasn't familiar with the Coldplay song, so I listened to it on YouTube. The similarity, whether coincidental or not, is undeniable. It'll be interesting to see how this one turns out.

Joe Satriani - If I Could Fly
(Skip to 0:50 for the part in question)
[youtubeuk]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CMcjXo8ZuqE[/youtubeuk]

Coldplay - Viva La Vida:
[youtubeuk]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE[/youtubeuk]


OK, you can all post your ill-informed "Satriani is a fretboard wanker" crap now.

[JiggerJay]

Good on you satch, Take em to the cleaners!

He'll be doing us all a favour!

[chalkitdown]

It does sound remarkably similar, to be fair.

[Cuttooth]

I thought this issue came up around the time the single was released, only Satriani decided not to take any action? Did he just change his mind?

[Dangerblade]

So sad that most people reading that story probably have no idea who Satriani is.

[rinks]

I'm sure it's no coincidence that the legal action was started the day after the Coldplay song got a Grammy nomination.

[Turok]

I don't get music big guys getting all uppity with this kind of "plagiarism". There are 12 notes in western music, and no matter how un-romantic and boring it sounds, the amount of unique riffs or phrases with a given length that can be written is limited in a way. With that said, I believe it is possible that two musicians can come up with the same phrase by nothing else but coincidence.

[Dangerblade]

Yeah but it's Coldplay.

[Abs]

They do sound simmilar, but not that much really.

Coldplay and Satriani are both as gooseberry fool as each other anyway, i'd like to see them both go bankrupt over this somehow.

[Dolph Wiggler]

Are there guidelines for this kind of thing? How alike do 2 songs have to be for legal action to work? I mean i can see the similarities, but i wouldn't have said it was copied.

[Spindash]

They're not that similar. I doubt it was deliberate.

Especially compared to:

The Cure - Lovecats
[youtubeuk]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=b69C67ZqYks[/youtubeuk]

and

The Hoosiers - Cops and Robbers
[youtubeuk]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=g0vdt7f2YRw[/youtubeuk]

[LewisD]

Not as obvious as Avril Lavigne stealing her hit song "Girlfriend" from the Rubinoos' hit song "I wanna be your boyfriend"
Let's listen:

[youtubeuk]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FZxrMb4Cilw[/youtubeuk]

[jamcc]

Viva la Vida, along with the rest of the album, is total gooseberry fool anyway.

[JiggerJay]

What about the theme from Buffy and That offspring song!

[Fm]

Father & Son vs Fight Test is the best one of these.

Flaming Lips
[youtubeuk]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Q29YR5-t3gg[/youtubeuk]

Cat Stevens
[youtubeuk]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TPljAgSMDi8[/youtubeuk]

It's easy to forgive the Flaming Lips though because theirs is so much better.

[Mr Thropwimp]

There's some similarity but they're far from identical. I don't think there's enough there to count for plagiarism.

And it is very easy to come up with something similar to another song by accident. You tend to listen to a lot of music in your life time, whether you notice it or not, so it's almost certain that you might subconsciously write something that bears similarity to another song.

It was only the other day when I tried writing a riff and, after realising I recognised it, found out I was playing Celebrity Skin.

Besides all that, it's music. If you're not directly ripping something off and it sounds similar, what's the fuss? Enough musicians realise it's not all about money, it's about the music. I'd say it dents Satriani's credibility just as much as it does Coldplay's.

[LewisD]

Celebrity Skin.

Oooh, I love that song, and not heard it in ages.
</iTunes>

[Vermin]

I'm sure the Hollyoaks theme uses G, G#, and F in that particular way. strawberry float 'em up, Satriani.

[PuppetBoy]

I wish I could sue Coldplay.

[rawandpeace]

Not as obvious as Avril Lavigne stealing her hit song "Girlfriend" from the Rubinoos' hit song "I wanna be your boyfriend"
Let's listen:

It wasn't even subtle!