{"id":571829,"date":"2023-04-26T01:32:19","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T22:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/ed-sheeran-takes-the-stand-in-thinking-out-loud-copyright-case\/"},"modified":"2023-04-26T01:32:19","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T22:32:19","slug":"ed-sheeran-takes-the-stand-in-thinking-out-loud-copyright-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/ed-sheeran-takes-the-stand-in-thinking-out-loud-copyright-case\/","title":{"rendered":"#Ed Sheeran Takes the Stand in ‘Thinking Out Loud’ Copyright Case"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nEd Sheeran took the stand in a New York federal courtroom on Tuesday to defend himself in a copyright infringement case that alleges his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud” rips off the 1973 Marvin Gaye classic “Let’s Get it On.”\n<\/p>\n


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\nThe “Shape of You” singer, 32, along with Sony and others, was sued in 2017 by the heirs of the late songwriter Ed Townsend, who wrote the soul hit that was later recorded by Gaye. Kathryn Griffin Townsend, his daughter and only living direct heir, is the plaintiff leading the civil trial.\n<\/p>\n


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\nDuring questioning from the plaintiff’s legal team, Sheeran argued that many pop songs share similar chord progressions, and said that his decision to do a mash-up of “Thinking Out Loud” and “Let’s Get it On” at a 2014 concert was not the “smoking gun” that Kathryn’s attorney Ben Crump claimed it was.\n<\/p>\n


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\n“If I’d done what you’re accusing me of doing, I’d be an idiot to stand on stage in front of 20,000 people and do that,” the musician said. “It is my belief that most pop songs are built on building blocks that have been freely available for hundreds of years.”\n<\/p>\n


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\nTo prove his point, Sheeran \u2014 who claimed that he often mashes together songs with similar chords at his concerts \u2014 pinpointed a number of other popular songs that share the same progressions, including Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love” and “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi.\n<\/p>\n


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Ed Sheeran.<\/span>
\nJohn Lamparski\/Getty<\/span>
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\nThe pop star grew visibly frustrated multiple times on the stand, including when Kathryn’s legal team shared lyrics from his song “Take It Back” that included a reference to plagiarism, but did not allow Sheeran to explain the context of the lyrics.\n<\/p>\n


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\n“I feel like you don’t want me to answer because what I’m going to say is going to make quite a lot of sense,” Sheeran said.\n<\/p>\n


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\nElsewhere, Sheeran revealed that he first heard “Let’s Get it On” in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me<\/em> as a child, and also explained that “Thinking Out Loud” came from an emotional conversation he had with co-writer Amy Wadge about the love his grandparents shared.\n<\/p>\n


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\nThe singer said he did not know if Wadge \u2014 who will testify later in the trial \u2014 was familiar with Townsend’s song because he and Wadge no longer speak about “Thinking Out Loud.”\n<\/p>\n


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\n“To be honest, all this stuff has put me off [talking about and listening to ‘Thinking Out Loud’],” said Sheeran, who was in good spirits as he spent the day’s lunch break eating a meatball sub in the courthouse cafeteria.\n<\/p>\n


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\nRELATED VIDEO: Ed Sheeran Announces ‘Honest’ New Album, Reveals Wife Cherry Seaborn Had a Tumor During Pregnancy<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n


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\nPrior to opening statements, Judge Louis L. Stanton explained to the jury that certain elements within compositions can be unprotected by copyright law, including phrases of speech, key, meter, tempo and chord progressions.\n<\/p>\n


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\nIn his statement, Crump said the trial is “about giving credit where credit is due,” and called the mash-up video “a voluntary confession” from Sheeran that he’d stolen the track.\n<\/p>\n


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\nMeanwhile, in her own opening statement, Sheeran’s attorney Ilene Farkas said it’s “exceedingly common” to hear frequently used chord progressions in popular songs, and that they’re “so basic” that no one can claim ownership of them.\n<\/p>\n


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\n“All songwriters draw from this basic musical toolkit,” Farkas said.\n<\/p>\n


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