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Sheeran copyright battle could stoke songwriting paranoia
The trial centers on whether the British pop phenom plagiarized Marvin Gaye's 1973 soul classic "Let's Get It On" in his 2014 hit "Thinking Out Loud."
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 02: Ed Sheeran attends the Disney+ World Premiere of “Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All” at The Times Center on May 02, 2023 in New York City. Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Disney+ (AFP /Bryan Bedder)
E
d Sheeran is preparing for a blockbuster tour and album release amid regular trips to Manhattan's federal court, where he's defending his songwriting in a closely watched copyright case.
The trial centers on whether the British pop phenom plagiarized Marvin Gaye's 1973 soul classic "Let's Get It On" in his 2014 hit "Thinking Out Loud."
The heirs of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote Gaye's smash, are behind the civil suit, and allege "striking similarities and overt common elements" between the songs.
It's the latest in a series of high-profile music copyright cases that have the industry on edge, leaving some songwriters paranoid about their own creative processes and vulnerability to litigation.
Sheeran, 32, has spent days testifying with guitar in hand, playing demos for the court to prove the 1-3-4-5 chord progression that's primarily in question is a basic building block of pop music that can't be owned.
His legal team argues that Gaye and Townsend were far from the first to record it, citing, for example, a number of Van Morrison songs that use the sequence and that were released prior to "Let's Get It On."
It's a notion echoed by forensic musicologist Joe Bennett.
