Ed Sheeran broke down in tears when the verdict came back that his song “Thinking Out Loud” did not plagiarize Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”
After the jury in a federal court in Manhattan found the 32-year-old artist not guilty of copyright infringement, he temporarily covered his face with his hands in relief. He stood up from his lawyer’s embrace.
The book’s author, Amy Wadge, said that she and Sheeran both cried when they found out they had won the lawsuit for $100 million.
Sheeran told reporters outside the courthouse, “I’m just a guy with a guitar who loves making music for other people to enjoy.” No one can utilize me like a walking ATM machine.
According to Sheeran, his song is completely different from Gaye’s. The musician said he was “done” and his career would be over if he was found guilty.
When asked about the outcome of the lawsuit, Sheeran remarked, “Of course, I’m very happy with how the case turned out, and it looks like I won’t have to quit my day job after all.”
The apparent approval of this behavior by the judicial system remains a mystery to me.
Eight years have been spent discussing whether or not two songs with entirely different lyrics, melodies, and four-chord structures should be made available to musicians throughout the world.
Chord progressions like the one utilized in Let’s Get It On have been there since before the invention of recorded music and will be around long after we’re gone.
Music is a universal language, and everyone should have access to it.
A blue color scheme is used to emphasize the concept that “no one owns them or how they’re played.”
If artists aren’t allowed to make new works “without worrying at every step of the way that their creativity will be wrongly called into question,” he said, “we might as well say goodbye to the creative freedom of songwriters.”
He said in a tone of profound dismay, “It’s terrible to be accused of stealing someone else’s song when we work so hard to make a living.”
The musician “won’t get that time back” because he missed his grandma’s burial in Ireland.
According to 23-year-old witness Sophia Neis, Sheeran’s acquittal was greatly aided by his performance of the song at trial.
In light of this, Neis said, “Of course, it’s cool to have anyone play music in front of you live.” So, the comparison of a sheet to a sound was novel and interesting. However, Sheeran’s courtroom performance was truly remarkable.
Initiating legal action were relatives of Ed Townsend, a composer who worked often with Gaye.
Sheeran’s attorney, Ben Crump, told the jury before the trial began that his client occasionally played both songs simultaneously.
Sheeran’s “Let’s Get It On” and “Thinking Out Loud” performances from a live concert in Switzerland were played for the judges. This is “smoking gun” evidence of plagiarism, as Crump puts it, he claims about the hit song.
Sheeran testified that he regularly switches tunes to “spice it up a bit” for his large crowds by picking up his guitar from behind him.
The defense attorney, Ilene Farkas, alluded to Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” and Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On” as “the letters of the alphabet of music” in rebuttal.
“These are basic musical building blocks that songwriters must be free to use now and forever,” she said, “or all of us who love music will be worse off because of it.”
The jury heard final arguments on Wednesday and deliberated throughout the night. They will continue deliberations on Thursday morning.
Keisha Rice, Townsend’s lawyer, argued that her clients weren’t trying to claim copyright over individual songs but rather sought credit for “the way in which these common elements were uniquely combined.”
For the most part, she told the jurors, “Mr. Sheeran is counting on you to be very, very impressed by his commercial success.” She urged them to apply “common sense” in determining the degree of musical similarity between the two tracks.
The attorneys representing Townsend’s children did not issue a statement following the judgment.
Intellectual property lawyer Mike Gilbert estimated that Sheeran’s legal fees will be in the seven figures due to the protracted nature of the dispute. They risk having to pay Sheeran a “reasonable sum” to cover his legal costs if they lose the appeal.
Sheeran yelled a sincere “thank you” to every member of the jury as they were leaving the courthouse on Thursday afternoon. After that, he spent more than five minutes chatting with the prospective donors. One of them was the daughter of Ed Townsend, who, along with Gaye in 1973, created the song that would become a soul hit. A friendly and humorous exchange of greetings ensued between them.
Sheeran warned before the judgment that if he lost the $100 million case, it may be the end of his music career.
In response to a question about his budget for the trial, Sheeran said, “If that happens, I’m done, I’m stopping.”
He said, “I think it’s really insulting that I’ve spent my whole life as a performer and songwriter, and someone wants to make fun of it.”
Sheeran, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Publishing were sued by Townsend’s family in 2017 for allegedly ripping off Townsend’s cover of the Gaye song.
Both artists claimed in court that they had come up with their songs independently of “Let’s Get It On.” Although he denied it at first, Sheeran eventually admitted that the Irish musician Van Morrison had an impact on his own smash hit, “Thinking Out Loud.”
The moment of choice, Wadge claimed in a CNN interview, was “like seven years of stress just leaving my body.” She revealed that they “had a few tears” between them.
To which she essentially said, “I think it goes beyond music and the idea that it all comes down to the building blocks of anything, whether it’s a painting or a movie,” which I take to imply the same thing. A musician who had no clue he would become famous said, “The very idea that this could happen was terrifying.”
Townsend and Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” was a huge hit that year. It’s tragic that both Townsend (2003) and Gaye (1984) have passed away. “Thinking Out Loud” peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2015.
Sheeran is also being sued by a business headed by investment banker David Pullman, who claims the singer stole the idea for “Thinking Out Loud” from Gaye. The business has complete ownership of the Gaye song.
Sheeran prevailed in a London copyright case he had filed for “Shape of You” the previous year.
The heirs of Gaye won a plagiarism lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams in 2015, claiming that their song “Blurred Lines” was inspired by Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.” The judge ruled in their favor and issued a $5.3 million judgment.
Attorney Nick Eziefula of the Simkins firm said, “another important court win for Sheeran that makes the line between inspiration and infringement a little less fuzzy.”
Although “this decision does not set a direct legal precedent” (since each case is different), “many in the music industry will find it comforting,” he continued, “because it helps to reinforce the idea that nobody can own the basic building blocks of music.”
The court stated, “this decision will calm fears that this kind of claim for song infringement will lead to a flood.”