Categories
General

Joe Satriani vs Coldplay

A bit off topic, but I thought I would add my thoughts to Joe Satriani’s accusations of plagiarism over his track “If I Could Fly” and the Coldplay track “Viva La Vida”.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rock guitarist Joe Satriani has sued Coldplay, accusing the Grammy-nominated stars of plagiarizing one of his songs.

Satriani’s copyright infringement suit, filed on Thursday in Los Angeles federal court, claims the Coldplay song “Viva La Vida” incorporates “substantial original portions” of his 2004 instrumental “If I Could Fly.”

The 52-year-old guitar virtuoso is seeking a jury trial, damages and “any and all profits” attributable to the alleged copyright infringement.

Although there is a strong similarity in one section of the song, I don’t believe a court will agree.

Any Musicologist worth his salt will be able to find many examples of the same passage, going back hundreds of years.

I beieve there was a similar case a few years ago, between Cat Stevens and the Pet Shop Boys regarding the song, It’s a Sin,  which never progressed for the same reasons… An expert found many examples from classical music of the same phrase, proving that Cat Stevens wasn’t original in the first place. Read Wikipedia about it here. I believe this will be a similar outcome, if it ever reaches court.

I reckon Joe is misguided in bringing this case…some nice publicity though..*wink*

Sorry, the video has been removed from Youtube for copyright reasons..