Satch sues Coldplay

trackmixstudio · 05-12-2008 10:09pm #1

Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay for allegedly copying a song of his.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7766683.stm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ofFw9DKu_I

The interesting part is that the Coldplay song is Grammy nominated.
Looks like he waited until the nominations came out.
It does sound remarkably similar to me except Satch's guitar is slightly less annoying than Chris Martin's whiny vocals.

Neurojazz · 05-12-2008 10:21pm

GO SATCH GO!!!!

jtsuited · 05-12-2008 11:01pm

of all the people in the world to copy, why did they have to go for that icon of guitar twiddling wankery?

PaulBrewer · 05-12-2008 11:09pm

I bought my first Satch track! - I also think that the Melody is so generic he'll loose.

Seziertisch · 05-12-2008 11:14pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI

Try transposing and slowing down the chorus on this and you have something similar again. The plot thickens ...

Helix · 05-12-2008 11:16pm

dont buy that its a rip-off myself

Seziertisch · 05-12-2008 11:17pm

or even this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1etjmGqp3vo

These guys also accused Coldplay of plagarism. Coldplay probably responded "Who the **** are Creaky Boards?"

Helix · 05-12-2008 11:19pm

Seziertisch wrote: »

or even this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1etjmGqp3vo

These guys also accused Coldplay of plagarism. Coldplay probably responded "Who the **** are Creaky Boards?"

shall we just accuse coldplay of ripping off every song that contains chords then?

PaulBrewer · 05-12-2008 11:21pm

I prefer Creaky Play...

PaulBrewer · 05-12-2008 11:23pm

Actually it'd be a laugh if Cold Patrol's defense was that their music is so generic that they couldn't possibly be accused of copying, M'Lud.

trackmixstudio · 05-12-2008 11:30pm

Nickelback sues Nickelback.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=466EKohjFUo

mayordenis · 05-12-2008 11:37pm

Sure Andrew WK Has been in a perpetual state of suing himself ever since he release I get wet.

PaulBrewer · 05-12-2008 11:44pm

Brilliant!

I did a Mash up of Director and The Delorentos. (Delorector!) which involved tempo matching the 2 tracks (one up a bit, one down) and basically running them simultaneously which was a laugh.

Then Director bring out another single which is the spit of a U2 track, another bait I had to take! (Suggested by a member of this forum who shall remain nameless)

Hear them (and other nonsense) here ...

http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3093245602

eoin5 · 06-12-2008 12:59am

Heres my impression of a jury winning speech: "Well he used the same 12 notes I did! hell he even left out a few"

fitz · 06-12-2008 1:05am

Good work there Brewer.
Chord progression is too generic...Satch will be teh lose.

Neurojazz · 06-12-2008 10:00am

100e satch wins

i57dwun4yb1pt8 · 06-12-2008 12:43pm

coldplay you mediocre bunch of w@nkers

TelePaul · 06-12-2008 1:21pm

Does this mean all those mid-to-late twenty year old chicks working in the financial services sector will now rush off to buy Surfing with the Alien? Cool...

dav nagle · 06-12-2008 1:24pm

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Brilliant!

I did a Mash up of Director and The Delorentos. (Delorector!) which involved tempo matching the 2 tracks (one up a bit, one down) and basically running them simultaneously which was a laugh.

Then Director bring out another single which is the spit of a U2 track, another bait I had to take! (Suggested by a member of this forum who shall remain nameless)

Hear them (and other nonsense) here ...

http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3093245602

Was at Director last night in the Tri Pod, neat band they are

jtsuited · 06-12-2008 2:27pm

dav nagle wrote: »

Was at Director last night in the Tri Pod, neat band they are

i was in a band that supported them a while back. was really impressed with their live show. tight as fcuk they were.

nice fellas too.

PaulBrewer · 11-12-2008 12:06am

Coldplay have admitted that they did in fact surf with the alien on the beach in greystones ....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/20081205_coldplay.shtml

We're only days from the ' Sure it's only standard chords' Defense .

Alter-Ego · 11-12-2008 1:38am

Upon inspection i have come to the conclusion that both songs are sh1t.

Flamed Diving · 11-12-2008 1:45am

Without subtle plagarism, modern popular music would not exist.

PaulBrewer · 11-12-2008 2:12am

Alter-Ego wrote: »

Upon inspection i have come to the conclusion that both songs are sh1t.

A fair and balanced appraisal from my learned friend ...

PaulBrewer · 11-12-2008 2:13am

Flamed Diving wrote: »

Without subtle plagarism, modern popular music would not exist.

I agree.

Flamed Diving · 11-12-2008 2:22am

PaulBrewer wrote: »

I agree.

Some would have us believe that there are only 100% original ideas out there. Modern music is pretty much based on the pentatonic, how many sounds can you get from just one scale?

Kintarō Hattori · 11-12-2008 2:25am

Seziertisch wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI

Try transposing and slowing down the chorus on this and you have something similar again. The plot thickens ...

Didn't that cease to be amusing quite some time ago?

jtsuited · 11-12-2008 10:49am

so last album they do a kraftwerk cover (although they did ask kraftwerk for permission. which surprisingly they got).

then this album they do a satriani rip off? that's a pretty steep nosedive.

RealEstateKing · 11-12-2008 11:18am

Does this mean that every Blues artist is a plagiarist?

Johnny Cash used the same three chords for his entire songbook, should he be sued by the inventor of the I - IV - V progression?

That said, the Coldplay and Satch songs are eerily similar, same tempo, same chords, everything.

Mind you, I'd love to see pretty-boy, public schoolboy Chris Martin banged up and sent to Strangeways with hardened criminals.

By the way have you ever noticed how much he looks like a young Tony Blair?

studiorat · 11-12-2008 11:25am

jtsuited wrote: »

so last album they do a kraftwerk cover (although they did ask kraftwerk for permission. which surprisingly they got).

They don't actually need to ask permission unless they are doing a lampoon of the song á la Weird Al or something.
If a song is in the public domain you can just re-record and release it, no permission needed, all you have to do is make sure the author and publisher are mentioned.

PaulBrewer · 11-12-2008 11:55am

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Didn't that cease to be amusing quite some time ago?

Yes, 1987 ...

jtsuited · 11-12-2008 11:56am

studiorat wrote: »

They don't actually need to ask permission unless they are doing a lampoon of the song á la Weird Al or something.
If a song is in the public domain you can just re-record and release it, no permission needed, all you have to do is make sure the author and publisher are mentioned.

no i know that. but chris martin actually wrote to yer man Florian whatshisname and asked politely.
nice touch for a guy who was in the biggest band in the world at the time.

'dear mr. kraftwerk...'

PaulBrewer · 11-12-2008 11:56am

RealEstateKing wrote: »

, should he be sued by the inventor of the I - IV - V progression?

If such a human existed I guess yes!

Seziertisch · 11-12-2008 12:16pm

studiorat wrote: »

They don't actually need to ask permission unless they are doing a lampoon of the song á la Weird Al or something.
If a song is in the public domain you can just re-record and release it, no permission needed, all you have to do is make sure the author and publisher are mentioned.

I think the permission was in relation to a sample from the original that the Coldplay song includes. There has been quite a bit of discussion of the politics of sampling elsewhere. It has proved to not be as liberating as some people expected (i.e. I can just take what I want and use it as my own). But rather if you want to use this on a commercial release it is so going to cost you. People talk about Beck's sampling etc. While he enjoys this homespun rep, without some serious record company sheckles behind him we would not have been hearing him using some of those samples in the first place.

Switcharoo · 11-12-2008 8:06pm

It's 3 notes that are the same: C#, D, B.

Yes, the vocal melody in Coldplay's version definitely follows Joe's main guitar riff - BUT, it's a very basic "lick" that has been played for years by thousands of musicians - it's 3 notes, FFS! ....and I hate Coldplay, so I actually wanted it to sound the same!

Switcharoo · 11-12-2008 8:11pm

RealEstateKing wrote: »

That said, the Coldplay and Satch songs are eerily similar, same tempo, same chords, everything.

You should read the description of the Youtube clip - the guy matched the tempo & pitch so his Youtube clip would be more shocking to those not arsed with, y'know, the facts:

...for those who are unaware, the tempo and keys HAVE been edited. I would never intend to trick anyone into believing that the two songs were IDENTICAL in these aspects.

trackmixstudio · 11-12-2008 10:22pm

Switcharoo wrote: »

You should read the description of the Youtube clip - the guy matched the tempo & pitch so his Youtube clip would be more shocking to those not arsed with, y'know, the facts:

Hey Switcharoo. I always get suspicious when a forum newbee takes such a strong stance on something. Be honest now. You are Chris Martin aren't you?

As for the key/tempo thing. That is irrelevant. There were experts employed by labels/publishers at the height of the sampling craze in the late 80s/early nineties whose job was to work backwards from one song to another to prove it was sampled. The satch/CP similarity is pretty striking. IMO it is one thing having the same chord progression (albeit in a different key), but having the same melody on the same progression is possible but suspicious.
Maybe Satch is taking a free ride on Coldplays stupid civil war style coat tails:D

PaulBrewer · 11-12-2008 10:49pm

trackmixstudio wrote: »

You are Chris Martin aren't you?

Welcome to the Forum Chris ..... I'll never forgive you for blanking me in London though...... wad I do wrong?

Neurojazz · 11-12-2008 11:24pm

GO SATCH GO!!!!

Rented Mule · 19-12-2008 5:25am

TelePaul wrote: »

Does this mean all those mid-to-late twenty year old chicks working in the financial services sector will now rush off to buy Surfing with the Alien? Cool...

The world would be a much cooler place if they did.

i57dwun4yb1pt8 · 19-12-2008 10:42am

meh - i hope satch creams em

Seziertisch · 19-12-2008 2:23pm

trackmixstudio wrote: »

Hey Switcharoo. I always get suspicious when a forum newbee takes such a strong stance on something. Be honest now. You are Chris Martin aren't you?

As for the key/tempo thing. That is irrelevant. There were experts employed by labels/publishers at the height of the sampling craze in the late 80s/early nineties whose job was to work backwards from one song to another to prove it was sampled. The satch/CP similarity is pretty striking. IMO it is one thing having the same chord progression (albeit in a different key), but having the same melody on the same progression is possible but suspicious.
Maybe Satch is taking a free ride on Coldplays stupid civil war style coat tails:D

I'll put it this way, I would imagine there have been successful litigations resulting from copyright infringements where the plaintive has had a significantly less strong case than Satch has. If Satch does get a slice of the pie, then the lads in Creaky Boards are probably equally if not more deserving. Oh the irony of their song being called "Songs I didn't write".

Satch sues Coldplay

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