Here’s some tough love for the musicians of the world: purge Marvin Gaye’s entire genre-defining catalogue from your minds. Don’t question it, just do it. At this point, the probability you’ve unwittingly emulated one of the bloke’s soulful grooves is approaching one, as evidenced by the new lawsuit filed against Ed Sheeran.
Months after the family of Gaye successfully sued Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke for US $7.4M due to the derivative content of Blurred Lines, the descendants of Ed Townsend – who helped compose and pen lyrics for Gaye’s 1973 babymaker – now claim Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud shares a few too many of the same elements.
Specifically, the suit claims the melody, harmonic progressions, and rhythmic structure of the flame-haired English troubadour’s 2014 track “are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition of ‘Let’s.’”
Sheeran’s label has yet to issue a statement on the matter. If you’re curious as to their similarities, Sheeran himself has incorporated both tracks into a medley. Watch this space to see if the fan-shot video ends up being used as evidence:
Source: Reuters.
Photo: C Brandon / Getty.
