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Post by Hey Man on Jan 26, 2015 14:28:08 GMT -5
Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne have been awarded songwriting royalties for pop star Sam Smith's smash hit single All I Need.
Smith's Grammy-nominated track bears similarities to Tom Petty's 1989 song I Won't Back Down. And after Petty's lawyers pointed out the resemblance, Smith agreed to credit Petty and co-writer Lynne 12.5% of the songwriting credits each, according to The Sun.
Stay With Me has sold almost four million copies worldwide and is up for Record Of The Year and Best Pop Performance at this year's Grammy Awards.
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Post by Nightflight77 on Jan 26, 2015 16:03:06 GMT -5
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Post by lugnut on Jan 26, 2015 17:26:28 GMT -5
Yet thanks to how UK copyright law works, a lot of their stuff will also soon be in the public domain. 50 years after date of publication, so I'm assuming this means a lot of the 1964 material should be up for grabs already. (Last year Apple even released a download-only official version of all the pre-1964 material that was heading into PD so they could at least make a few bucks on it.) Of course, I think lawyers are trying to screw this up and will likely succeed soon, but I say bring the PD stuff on. It's a shame what Disney did to all but destroy public domain in the States. EDIT - Er, Apple the label that is, not iTunes Apple... though I do think that compilation is available there, heh. |
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Post by lugnut on Jan 26, 2015 17:32:52 GMT -5
And jeez, I've heard that awful Sam Smith song a hundred times and never noticed the similarity in the melody 'til just now. My wife hates Smith, so I figured she'd enjoy hearing he was getting sued - I said I don't hear the resemblance between the two and asked her if she did. She claims to not know the Petty song. (How is that even possible?)
Anyway, I sang a few bars of it and she says "Yeah, that's exactly the same melody as Stay" and, indeed, while I was singing it, it dawned on at roughly the same time. I'd have never caught it without having it pointed out, though.
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Post by Nightflight77 on Jan 26, 2015 17:45:29 GMT -5
Yet thanks to how UK copyright law works, a lot of their stuff will also soon be in the public domain. 50 years after date of publication, so I'm assuming this means a lot of the 1964 material should be up for grabs already. (Last year Apple even released a download-only official version of all the pre-1964 material that was heading into PD so they could at least make a few bucks on it.) Of course, I think lawyers are trying to screw this up and will likely succeed soon, but I say bring the PD stuff on. It's a shame what Disney did to all but destroy public domain in the States. EDIT - Er, Apple the label that is, not iTunes Apple... though I do think that compilation is available there, heh. "However, the 1976 US Copyright Act means Sir Paul will now be able the claim back the titles once more in five years, according to The Sun." Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2394325/Sir-Paul-McCartney-set-win-rights-Beatles-catalogue.html#ixzz3PyDhL1dhFollow us: @mailonline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook |
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Post by Anomacunt the Excellent on Jan 27, 2015 21:08:16 GMT -5
So long as The Beatles's shit gets put on Spotify, I'm happy.
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Post by Tookie on Jan 28, 2015 16:34:43 GMT -5
And jeez, I've heard that awful Sam Smith song a hundred times and never noticed the similarity in the melody 'til just now. My wife hates Smith, so I figured she'd enjoy hearing he was getting sued - I said I don't hear the resemblance between the two and asked her if she did. She claims to not know the Petty song. (How is that even possible?) Anyway, I sang a few bars of it and she says "Yeah, that's exactly the same melody as Stay" and, indeed, while I was singing it, it dawned on at roughly the same time. I'd have never caught it without having it pointed out, though. Obviously it does sound similar when pointed out and compared, but if I was a songwriter this story would scare the shit out of me anytime I wrote something. While similar the songs are so fucking different in more ways. Some people are acting like I Wont Back Down is some classic that everyone should know like Satisfaction or Hey Jude but in reality its a 25+ year old song that was fairly popular in the summer of 89 that only people 40+ would remember in a classic way. It's probably my fav Tom Petty song, but I've fucking hardly heard it in 20 years on the radio. I can believe there would be songwriters with no clue of it. It's not exactly a complex riff that was cutting edge with the music. I was expecting Sam Smith to be copying the way he sang the words as well with all the hoopla to this story. |
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Post by Cducharme on Jan 28, 2015 16:50:06 GMT -5
Yeah that song is known even to the people younger than me where I work.
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Post by Tookie on Jan 28, 2015 16:58:04 GMT -5
Obviously it does sound similar when pointed out and compared, but if I was a songwriter this story would scare the shit out of me anytime I wrote something. While similar the songs are so fucking different in more ways. Some people are acting like I Wont Back Down is some classic that everyone should know like Satisfaction or Hey Jude but in reality its a 25+ year old song that was fairly popular in the summer of 89 that only people 40+ would remember in a classic way. It's probably my fav Tom Petty song, but I've fucking hardly heard it in 20 years on the radio. I can believe there would be songwriters with no clue of it. It's not exactly a complex riff that was cutting edge with the music. I was expecting Sam Smith to be copying the way he sang the words as well with all the hoopla to this story. It was the lead-off single (his highest charting since 1979 and only ever surpased by Free Falling) of an album that went on to sell 5 million copies in the US (was up for the album of the year Grammy), was Petty's commercial peak and had a video featuring a Beatle.  Actually half the Beatles in the video. It's by no means a classic though in the sense of being a song of the times (or even an artist of the times) as far as pop culture goes. 5 million is good but its not exactly anything like Madonna, Prince, Van Halen, or Bon Jovi as far as songs considered synonymous with the 80s as far as classics and sales go when looking back 25 years ago. |
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Post by Tookie on Jan 28, 2015 17:04:11 GMT -5
Yeah that song is known even to the people younger than me where I work. I'm sure though that they also probably know I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred too. There are also people pushing their 20s who have no fucking idea who U2 is let alone John, Paul, George, and Ringo. |
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Post by lugnut on Jan 29, 2015 17:33:24 GMT -5
Having privately agreed to a settlement in his favor, Tom Petty is now happy to release a statement on his website saying he’s totally cool with this whole Sam Smith controversy. Earlier this week, Smith awarded Petty and Jeff Lynne songwriting credit on his song “Stay With Me,” which, as seen in this mash-up video, is remarkably similar to Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” Petty and Lynne will now split 25 percent of the songwriting royalties for the hit single, and Petty’s statement clarifies that he “never had any hard feelings towards Sam.” Petty also notes, “All my years of songwriting have shown me these things can happen. Most times you catch it before it gets out the studio door but in this case it got by.” Having had no need for a lawsuit, Petty can now confidently announce, “The word ‘lawsuit’ was never even said and was never my intention.” Petty also says he has no idea how news of the agreement became public and calls the whole thing, “A musical accident, no more, no less.” Given that the “musical accident” has sold more than 3.5 million tracks and is up for Song Of The Year at next month’s Grammy Awards, it’s possible Petty wouldn’t be quite so mellow about the whole thing if Smith hadn’t acquiesced so quickly. Just to emphasize how cool he is with all of this, Petty adds, “I wish Sam all the best for his ongoing career. Peace and love to all.” |
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