It’s been more than a year since Olivia Rodrigo gave songwriting credits to Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Josh Farro for ‘good 4 u’. Personally, I recall being extremely surprised by the similarities between the two songs’ choruses upon their release. However, whilst the choruses of both songs are extremely similar, the other sections are not. Lately, I have been wondering if this can be really deemed as stealing. I decided to take a look at some confirmed plagiarism cases in the recent history of popular music, to see how similar the incriminated songs actually are.
This requires a couple of clarifications before I proceed. For the purposes of this article, I will not talk about the practice of sampling, which poses completely different challenges, and I will intend the term ‘pop’ as ‘popular’ music. That is, any music genre that is not academically considered “serious music”. This means I will be grouping ‘pop’ into sub genres like indie, alternative, rock and so on.
The list of alleged and verified plagiarism cases in the last fifty years is substantial, so it would be extremely difficult and tedious to talk about every case. However, if we ignore those few instances in which the two songs in question are actually a mere duplicate of one another, a trend emerges. Generally, there is a discrete level of similarity between ‘plagiarised’ songs, but it is extremely difficult to find a song directly ripping off another. Mostly, the two songs involved are similar in a way that is not really different from the resemblances that can be noticed between two songs up in the charts or between songs of similar genres from different eras.
Radiohead were forced to cede a third of the royalties from their hit song ‘Creep’(1992) to Albert Hammond, as well as songwriting credits, because of alleged plagiarism of Hammond’s ‘The Air that I Breathe’ (1972). Comically enough, 25 years later Radiohead’s management accused Lana del Rey of plagiarism and asked for 100% of the royalties of her song ‘Get Free’.
Is it really possible to talk about stealing in these instances? All three songs share the same chord progression for specific sections (and not even for their entire duration), but not much more. ‘Creep’ and ‘The Air That I Breathe’ are in a different key; the arrangement, and therefore the overall vibe, could not diverge more, and the melodies used are both extremely unique and cannot be overlapped in any way. ‘Creep’ and ‘Get Free’ are indeed more similar, mainly in terms of mood – although, this is an extremely abstract and subjective concept that should probably not be used to identify plagiarism. Moreover, the verse’s melody in ‘Get Free’ resembles more closely the verses’ melody of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’, but can it really be considered different? The two songs are also in a different key, and the arrangement, production and even structure are completely different.
Madonna and Sam Harris settled on an undisclosed amount after Madonna got sued for her song ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ (1986) for its similarities to Harris’ ‘Sugar Don’t Bite’ (1984). The two songs share the same key and tempo, and the production style is extremely similar: they both feature a classic 80s sound. The plagiarism accusation is likely related to the first section of Madonna’s chorus, which is almost identical to ‘Sugar Don’t Bite’. The question is, again, is this enough to constitute plagiarism? Both choruses evolve into two second sections which are completely different, both harmonically and melodically. And if we don’t consider the choruses, the verses have the same degree of similarity, musically speaking, as any two songs you might listen to on the radio.
However, there is another point to talk about here. One of the melodic fragments of ‘Sugar Don’t Bite’ is extremely similar to the verse’s melody of Bon Jovi’s massive hit ‘Living On A Prayer’ (1986). Furthermore, Madonna’s song features the exact same chord progression, with the same harmonic rhythm as the one we find in ‘Living On A Prayer’s verse. So, all three songs are in the same key, same tempo, have similar vibes and production styles, and share extremely similar material. Why was Madonna accused of plagiarism, but Bon Jovi wasn’t?
I don’t think it is possible to determine if a pop song is intentionally plagiarised by just looking at the music, unless of course there are two songs that are exact copies of one another. Certainly, it would be more useful to talk about unintentional plagiarism, and here’s why.
Popular music tends to be highly standardised in form, style, and even elements that theoretically should be more “individual” like chord progressions, rhythmic patterns and melodic ideas (think of Reggaeton or the twelve-bar blues). In addition, pop songs are generally built using specific musical scales out of which only certain chords can be built and used in a certain manner. Producers and writers tend to adopt this musical language, which favours simplicity, repetition and what is commonly considered “consonance” or, in very simple terms, instantly pleasant for the ears. These qualities require less effort to be appreciated and are generally more easily considered as “good-sounding”. Therefore, a song with these features is potentially more popular and will have more streams and sell more.
Sadly, this approach has its limits. Because of the way this music style works, only certain notes sound good with certain chords and vice versa. On top of that, the research of easy and “good-sounding” elements further restricts the possibilities for originality.
There’s also some other points to consider. Firstly, it should be remembered that the history of music dates back to prehistoric times. That means millions of pieces of music, billions of musical ideas, melodies and various combinations. And this is without even considering the fact that notation started to be used around the 11th century. Imagine how much music we are missing. Therefore, it is inevitable that two or more works will sound very similar, if not the same.
We should remember musicians are subconsciously influenced by the music they happen to listen to. The style and sound of a musician can be easily and unintentionally influenced by the music they are in contact with.
Lastly, we should consider how music is taught and learned – primarily by imitation. The great BB King in 1988 said “I don’t think anybody steals anything: all of us borrow”. Composition, songwriting and production are taught by imitation in schools and colleges; students are presented with the works of many different musicians, and are expected to be inspired by them, to absorb specific techniques and styles that have been previously used. Consider also that reading a score is not enough to learn how to play an instrument: it is by listening to the great performers, imitating the so-called “masters”, that people learn how to play. Many of these court cases seem to me as mere marketing and economic operations that are not sufficiently supported by musical evidence. It is probably time to realise that, considering how pop music works and where we stand in music history, it is becoming increasingly difficult to write something completely original, especially in pop music. It would not be crazy to acknowledge that, most likely, nobody is writing original music anymore;after all, as Stravinsky said, “lesser artists borrow, greater artists steal”.
Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash.
