7 Reasons the 'Blurred Lines' Verdict Should Have Everyone Spooked

Robin Thcke and Pharrell's trial opened a Pandora's box.

Ain't That Peculiar? - Since a jury awarded the family of soul deity Marvin Gaye $7.4 million in the "Blurred Lines" copyright trial Wednesday (March 13), the surprising verdict has become a Rorschach test of sorts. If you believe that the song's producer Pharrell Williams and headlining vocalist Robin Thicke sneakily took essential musical elements of Gaye's 1977 dance classic "Got to Give It Up," you smiled when the cheating A-holes were forced to pay up. If you view the monetary verdict as get-back for all the times white artists have gotten away with blatantly stealing from African-American artistry you most likely pumped your fist in the air as you broke out into the Shmurda dance.Or maybe you think the decision was at best misguided, an opinion that New Statesman writer Rhodri Marsden shares with other journalists, songwriters and musicologists. "Let...
Inspiration Can Now Cost You Millions - For decades, musicians have relied on the free-flowing exchange of ideas to create some of the most indelible, influential work ever recorded. Whether it's the bedrock blues of Robert Johnson; the signature horn phrasings of Louis Armstrong; Billie Holiday's indelible vocal stylings; or James Brown's groundbreaking rhythmic structures; the Beatles' off-centered D and F chords; Sly Stone's hazy, atmospheric funk grooves; or Black Sabbath's hellish, industrial guitar innovations, you can find some trace of all of these sounds and more in the DNA of popular music.This is why the "Blurred Lines" verdict should send a chill up the spines of anyone that fancies themselves as a professional songwriter or just a everyday music fan. Before the Gaye family's unprecedented legal victory, such lawsuits were either tossed or sett...
The Feel of a Song Can Now Be Copyrighted - While some passionate critics of the ruling may come off as overly dramatic to onlookers who view the "Blurred Lines" verdict as more inside baseball, there is some potential fallout worth taking seriously. The Washington Post's Chris Richards broke down one game-changing sticking point in his Wednesday column when he wrote, "But while 'Blurred Lines' might lack imagination, Thicke and Williams ultimately only seem guilty of stealing a vibe. And if vibes are now considered intellectual property, let us swiftly prepare for every idiom of popular music to go crashing into juridical oblivion."Continues Richards, "Because music is a continuum of ungovernable hybridity, a dialogue between generations where the aesthetic inheritance gets handed down and passed around in every direction."This is the underlining fea...Pharrell Made Songwriting Seem Downright Shady - If by chance Robin Thicke and Pharrell come out on the losing end of an appeal, legal historians will be pointing to Williams's at times laughable testimony. The superproducer claimed that Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" played zero role in the creation of "Blurred Lines," a statement that drew many blank WTF stares. "I had Earl Sweatshirt in one room and Miley Cyrus in the other," he explained of the making of the Thicke track. The studio sessions with Cyrus, he claimed, took on a bit of bluegrass tone. "It was like blending this country sound with this up-tempo groove," he said of the finished product.Since the issue at hand was never really about influence, Pharrell, who admitted in court that he was the sole creator of "Blurred Lines," would have done his legal team a solid by copping...

Next Gallery

Celebrity Birthdays: Sherri Shepherd Celebrates!

24 Photos

1 / 8

Ain't That Peculiar? - Since a jury awarded the family of soul deity Marvin Gaye $7.4 million in the "Blurred Lines" copyright trial Wednesday (March 13), the surprising verdict has become a Rorschach test of sorts. If you believe that the song's producer Pharrell Williams and headlining vocalist Robin Thicke sneakily took essential musical elements of Gaye's 1977 dance classic "Got to Give It Up," you smiled when the cheating A-holes were forced to pay up. If you view the monetary verdict as get-back for all the times white artists have gotten away with blatantly stealing from African-American artistry you most likely pumped your fist in the air as you broke out into the Shmurda dance.Or maybe you think the decision was at best misguided, an opinion that New Statesman writer Rhodri Marsden shares with other journalists, songwriters and musicologists. "Let...

ADVERTISEMENT