What was the first song accused of copyright infringement?
Most musicians try their hardest to avoid claims of copyright infringement, but it’s difficult in an industry where complete originality is essentially a myth. As Peter Gabriel once said, “Real originality is a rare commodity in music.”
But that also depends on what your definition of originality is. If it’s about chasing something that no one has done before, then there’s the myth. If it’s about pioneering older sounds and styles and turning them into something fresh and unique, that’s where true originality lies. It’s also one of the main things that draws artists to certain artists over others, because they’re able to do it in a way that feels as authentic as if it were entirely their own.
As Gabriel explained, while discussing what made him become endeared to Talk Talk frontman Mark Hollis. After claiming that real originality is one of the rarest concepts in music, he said that Hollis was the embodiment of such an idea because he could channel his “unique and soulful take on the world” into real art.
All points considered, however, music’s originality crisis means that countless artists have been accused of copyright infringement over the years. After all, it’s only inevitable when you consider that there are only 12 notes and so many combinations of melodies to come up with. But then comes the difference between influence and imitation – and if a song sounds just a little too much like another, it enters a dangerous territory.
So, what was the first copyright dispute?
Although it seems that there’s malice involved in some of the more high-profile copyright cases, that’s rarely the case at all. After all, most similarities happen entirely by accident, whether due to the artist’s unconscious influences or because the melodies or arrangements are so common that it’s nearly impossible to claim originality.
One of the more notable accusations of recent times is when Ed Sheeran came under fire for “borrowing” from Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’. However, his main reasoning for such on-the-nose interpolation was that he mashes up many sounds during his gigs, many of which use the same cycle of chords that have been used repeatedly in older classics.
And while Sheeran’s case was fairly well-known, it was far from the first. In fact, the first main cases of copyright infringement occurred in the 1960s, notably starting in 1965 when Len Barry was accused of copying elements of The Supremes’ ‘Ask Any Girl’ in his track ‘1-2-3’. Barry’s team denied the accusations at first, but Motown sued anyway, and the outcome ended up in their favour: 15% of the royalties.
A handful of other high-profile artists accused others of copyright infringement during the ‘60s. After The Supremes, The Beach Boys also borrowed the structure of Chuck Berry’s ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ in ‘Surfin’ USA’, an intentional approach despite only crediting Brian Wilson upon release. The outcome of this one wasn’t as major as The Supremes’, but it did make a point when it came to artists knowingly borrowing or sampling others’ work.
Other major artists across the following years, including James Brown, The Beatles, and The Doors, ran into copyright disputes, many of which resulted in a split of royalties or the appropriate songwriting credits. But these issues are always going to come up in one way or another, especially now, when originality is a much more abstract concept.
