Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Stairway to heaven law suit ?


ambient
 Share

Recommended Posts

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1460456659' post='3025815']
It could be what happens when relatives over estimate the value of the estate, especially when it's split 19 ways and "Rich Uncle Randy's" estate doesn't amount to so much. Not that I've researched this guy at all.
[/quote]

I don't think he made vast amounts. Spirit were reasonably well known in the late 60's /early 70's on the US west coast scene but otherwise fairly anonymous. They had a bit of a resurgence in UK doing the college circuit in the early 80's and California's 'Restless' solo album was reasonably well received by the rock fraternity around that time. He'd moved to Hawaii when he drowned saving his son who had got into difficulties swimming in the sea. He seemed a pretty cool chilled out guy but he had mentioned the similarity between Taurus and STH in interviews before.

Edited by KevB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Taurus by Spirit:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd8AVbwB_6E&nohtml5=False[/media]

But did both parties rip off this??

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcYeLRI76No&list=RDJcYeLRI76No&nohtml5=False"]http://www.youtube....o&nohtml5=False[/url]

Edited by TheGreek
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1460438842' post='3025644']
Money & a skint/greedy relative?
[/quote]I have to agree. Stairway has been around for 45 years and only now they want to make a claim. I call shenanigans. In addition, as posted earlier, both tunes are very Bach-esque, so the smart move is to claim that it was Bach inspired; case closed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is very similar for the first 5 or so chords anyway, same key too and picking pattern. I guess a settlement will be reached.

As for the mention of Weller - there are surely no two riffs more alike than 'Changing Man' and ELO's '10538 Overture'

Edited by acidbass
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the wiki page for 10538 Overture it says Weller sampled the riff for 'Changing Man'.

Whether they actually mean sampled or whether Weller just had his band play it I don't know, but I would guess that the royalties were sorted out long ago.

Edited by Cato
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1460476936' post='3026050']
On the wiki page for 10538 Overture it says Weller sampled the riff for 'Changing Man'.

Whether they actually mean sampled or whether Weller just had his band play it I don't know, but I would guess that the royalties were sorted out long ago.
[/quote]

Tax Man and Start seem very similar too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1460475085' post='3026032']
I have to agree. Stairway has been around for 45 years and only now they want to make a claim. I call shenanigans. In addition, as posted earlier, both tunes are very Bach-esque, so the smart move is to claim that it was Bach inspired; case closed.
[/quote]

"Poor man's bourrée by Bach"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDo4CA13LbY

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='odysseus' timestamp='1460454502' post='3025785']
Similar claims have been made about The Eagles' Hotel California being a rip off of Jethro Tull's We Used To Know, but I don't think it ever went as far as court AFAIK. The general consensus among musos is that chord progressions were shared in the same manner as needles back in the day.

Look at blues and rock'n'roll - I guess some stuff is considered more 'open source' than others. I can understand people getting upset about apparent 'plagiarism' though. I guess the debate will rumble on.... *shrug*
[/quote]There's an interview with Ian Anderson where he states he really doesn't care.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1460424432' post='3025632']
Not heard of this before, and have I've never heard of the band or song it's alleged to have been copied from.

I have to say that judging by this, in my opinion there's enough dissimilarity.

[url="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/12/stairway-to-heavens-opening-chords-may-have-been-stolen-judge-says"]http://www.theguardi...olen-judge-says[/url]
[/quote]

The lawyer for the grasping side is called Francis Malofiy. Any relation to Draco Malofiy - sorry, Malefoy?

The chords are similar but the distinctive melodic lines differ quite a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did read somewhere that one of the reasons the Turus / STH case is happening now (well, it started a few years ago, but is just getting to court now), is due to the Remasters collections Led Zep put out. The statute of limitations had passed on the original recording of STH, but the remastered version counts as a new track.

This does kind of raise a couple of interesting points:
1. As pointed out already, if this is only happening now, then it's fairly safe to say the guys in Spirit knew of STH and the similarity and chose to do nothing about it.
2. As the statue of limitation on the original recording has passed, would any claim for royalties be based only on sales of the remastered version? To be sure, that will still be a considerable sum, but only a tiny fraction of the total royalties STH has earned over the last 45+ years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1460485039' post='3026167']
On a general point, can anyone clear up the copyright/public domain laws. I recall something about fifty years unless you pay lawyers to renew?
[/quote]

It used to be fifty years after the end of the year(*) of death of the composer, recently increased to seventy years.

* So if you your composer grandfather is looking iffy around Christmas, do what you can to get him to hold on until New Year's Day, then you get an extra year of royalties :-)

Edited by ras52
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='dudewheresmybass' timestamp='1460543222' post='3026597']
Btw, whatever happened in the Coldplay/ joe satriani case?
[/quote]

A series of mistrials, due to acute narcolepsy rendered the lawsuit unmanageable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...