"I Would Have Been An Idiot To Perform A Song That Ripped Off 'Let's Get It On'" - Ed Sheeran In Court Just Before The Lawyer Suing Him For Copyright Played Concert Video Of Ed Performing The Marvin Gaye Hit

NY Post - Video of a live performance by Ed Sheeran is the “smoking gun” in a lawsuit accusing the four-time Grammy award-winning musician of ripping off Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On,” a Manhattan court heard Tuesday. Attorneys for the heirs of late Ed Townsend – who co-wrote the 1973 soul classic with Gaye – claimed that Sheeran made a “confession” when he combined the hit song with his own, “Thinking Out Loud,” during a 2014 concert in Zurich.

“In this case, we have a smoking gun: Mr. Ed Sheeran himself in concert merged ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and ‘Let’s Get it On,’” lawyer Ben Crump said in his opening statement in Manhattan federal court.

The mashup proves Sheeran knew of the similarities between the two songs, Crump argued. Sheeran was called to testify Tuesday by Townsend attorney Keisha Rice. During his testimony, the musician said the idea of creating the medley was “probably mine.” He said if he had, indeed, copied “Let’s Get It On,” then he “would’ve been an idiot to stand on stage in front of 20,000 people.”

Riffing on a famous quote attributed to Maya Angelou — “When people show you who they are, believe them,” — Crump told the jury: “When someone provides you [with] a voluntary confession, believe them.”

Counsel would like to introduce exhibit A to the court your honor:

Life comes at your fast. 

One second, you're winning the 2016 Grammy award for Song of the Year, for your megahit, "Thinking Out Loud". Knowing you don't ever have to work another day in your life, because that same song will be played at every single wedding from here til Kingdom Come, appear in every romcom for the next ten years, and your royalty checks alone every quarter, from those bloodsuckers at BMI and ASCAP, will allow you live lide "made in the shade". Which is important considering in this scenario you're Ed Sheeran and your skin is translucent. 

Joel C Ryan. Shutterstock Images.

Just ask Robin Thicke.

One second he was on top of the fucking world, watching a young, still-innocent Emily Ratajkowski sashay her perfect tits in front of his face

The next?

The Prince of Mowtown's estate was coming for that ass. 

And they got that ass. (And Pharrell's). To the tune of $5 Million.

NBC - The long drawn-out copyright battle over Robin Thicke’s 2013 song “Blurred Lines” has ended after a judge ordered Thicke and Pharrell Williams to pay almost $5 million to Marvin Gaye’s estate in the case’s final ruling.

Members of Gaye’s family sued Thicke and Williams, along with rapper and featured artist on the song, T.I., in 2013 for copyright infringement of Gaye’s 1977 hit song “Got to Give It Up.”

In 2015, the Gaye family won their case. The court ordered Thicke and Williams to pay Gaye’s estate more than $7 million dollars, an amount that was later reduced to $5.3 million.

The lesson? Mercy, mercy, me, don't fuck with Marvin Gaye's (estate's) money!

Or, if you are going to rip off the song, disguise or mix up the chord progression a little better.

(source) Sheeran’s legal team argued that the sounds used in both songs are common in pop music. “No one owns basic musical building blocks,” Ilene Farkas, Sheeran’s lawyer, told the jury in opening remarks.

Sheeran’s lawyer Donald Zakarin cross-examined Townsend Griffin Tuesday afternoon. Zakarin said that Sony sent reports from two musicologists to Townsend’s counsel in 2015 that concluded there are no valid claims of copying because the song uses common chord progressions.

Lawyers asked if Townsend Griffin noticed the chord progression in “Let’s Get It On” is used in other songs like “Heart and Soul” or “Earth Angel.” She said she’s never dissected a song until she listened to “Thinking Out Loud.”

“I don’t think my father’s a thief,” Townsend Griffin said. She said she hired her own musicologists for her “personal clarity.”

There have been a number of prominent music copyright lawsuits in recent years.

and the Beegees, and the Beach Boys… we all know the sound-

because it's all so familiar, and because there's only a limited, finite amount of sounds possible to create. 

As Sheeran himself said -

After his successful 2022 legal battle, Sheeran posted a video to his Instagram voicing his concern over the recent wave of music copyright cases.

“It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry. There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify. That’s 22 million songs a year, and there’s only 12 notes that are available,” Sheeran said. “I’m not an entity. I’m not a corporation. I’m a human being. I’m a father. I’m a husband. I’m a son. Lawsuits are not a pleasant experience.”

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