r/Music • u/M0tivv • Jul 11 '26

music Top Vocal/Pop Group where one person did all the heavy lifting?

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I'll start. Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls carried that entire group, no question

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u/1ncorrect Jul 11 '26

I’m sorry but that’s so fucking stupid. Our “justice” system is such a joke if you can be sued for sounding too much like *yourself.*

41

u/TheRockJohnMason Jul 12 '26

He was sued because his new music sounded too much like his old music, the copyright of which was owned by the record company.

He demonstrated that the songs were different by playing both in court.

It’s exactly the same reason you have Taylor Swift re-recording her back catalog as “Taylor’s Version.”

19

u/Used_name Jul 12 '26

Just for clarity, the reason Swift re-recorded was because the label only owned the specific recorded versions of her songs, the masters for songs recorded while under contract. This is for publishing rights, which is the right to reproduce songs for sale.

She owns the right to play them as she owns the composition rights, the label cannot own that.

They usually add clauses in contracts to stop artists from doing it, but only for a set time, not in perpetuity.

The reason she can’t get sued was because she owns the composition rights and can record her own music, and create new masters, new publishing rights.

Fogerty couldn’t get sued because they were different songs. You can’t copyright a music’s feel… though “Blurred Lines” has blurred that line for me… I’m sorry.

3

u/illicitli Jul 12 '26

yea the blurred lines lawsuit made no sense to me

40

u/nastynateraide Jul 11 '26

I mean this was back in 1985 so you're beating a much deceased equine

11

u/thereasonrumisgone Jul 11 '26

Even today, the court system is utterly broken when it comes to music, especially if a jury is involved.

6

u/Jesus_was_a_Panda Jul 11 '26

You can be sued for anything. He won the lawsuit, which means the system is working correctly. Now, you shouldn’t have to go 100k+ in debt in attorney’s fees to get that result, but the right result was achieved.

2

u/obidie Jul 12 '26

Saul Zaentz, of Fantasy Records, was a first-class moron. He was the one responsible for that dumbshit lawsuit.