Saturday, August 1, 2009

"Hey, your song sounds the same as mine!"

As you all know by now, Kelly Clarkson is arguing with RCA Records (a subsidiary unit of Sony Music Entertainment). It's the dispute over her new power ballad - which sounds similar to Beyonce's 2008 hit, "Halo".


Disputes began when Clarkson realised her single, "Already Gone", co written with songwriter Ryan Tedder, was a deadringer of another Tedder produced tune, "Halo".

Now, Tedder has confessed that he gave both platinum-selling signers a tune with the same back tracking. However, by the time Kelly had heard "Halo" and realised the similarities between the tracks, her current album All I Ever Wanted was already in print.



In an interview with Canada's CBC Radio, Clarkson revealed she had been fighting behind the scenes to keep her latest single, "Already Gone" from being released - to no avail. She believed when listeners heard the song, they would be thinking "Kelly ripped off Beyonce's Halo song."



This type of case has never existed before - but as a law student who is interested in becoming a media lawyer, it's riveting stuff!

It is obvious the U.S courts will be heavily relying on the copyright law. I must express, the most important thing any journalist, musician, entertainer (hell, anyone involved in media must know) is that a copyright protects the expression of an idea, it does not protect the idea itself.

The issue here, is the melody behind both "Halo" and "Already Gone". Since Tedder owns the copyright to the melody - then they may not be any charges against him. Personally, I think it's sheer laziness that Tedder decided to use the same melody for both Clarkson and Beyonce.

However, I'm not the judge - so the trial may turn around and announce a different decision.

So Petites, what are your thoughts on this? Should Tedder be charged?

Happy reading,
5ft0

3 comments:

Death Wears Diamond Jewellery said...

i find the whole thing odd. there are sooooooooo many songs that have similar backing tracks and samples etc...

Five Foot Nothing said...

Exactly DWDJ, so many songs have a similar melody these days - sheer laziness I guess.

frockandrollonline.com said...

You're right, the whole thing SMACKS of laziness on his behalf!

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