Лед Зеппелин пойдут под суд за плагиат.
Уже завтра.
Джимми Пейдж и Роберт Плант отрицают что вообще когда-либо слушали музыку группы "Спирит",
песню которой, под названием Торэс (Taurus) они, как подозревается, использовали для написания
знаменитой баллады "Лестница в небо" ( Stairway to Heaven).
Фото: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Спирит была психоделической группой из Лос Анжелеса.
Газета "Гардиан" приводит демонстрацию аккордов их песни про белого бычка (Taurus в переводе бык, откуда идут слова тореадор (тореро).
Вам судить, насколько похожи две мелодии и было ли основание предъявлять иск.
К сожалению, надо бежать на работу, поэтому статью переводить некогда.
Кто читает по-английски, найдёт под катом подробные подробности и детальные детали.
It began simply, just a few notes recorded on to a cassette by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant as they sat in a small cottage in the Welsh mountains in 1970.
But the humble history of the opening riff of Led Zeppelin’s most famous song Stairway to Heaven may about to be rewritten.
A case which claims that the opening chords to Led Zeppelin’s biggest hit were in fact stolen from a 1967 song Taurus, by the band Spirit, will be heard by a jury in May, a US judge has ruled. The lawsuit for copyright infringement was brought by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for Randy Wolfe, also known as Randy California, who was Spirit’s guitarist and the composer of Taurus, who died in 1997.
The lawsuit alleges that Page and Plant would have heard Taurus when Spirit and Led Zeppelin were on tour together in the late 1960s, and that it was then directly copied on Stairway to Heaven without ever crediting Wolfe.
The Guardian view on Stairway to Heaven: it’s on another Page
The case was first filed in 2014, in an attempt to block the re-release of Stairway to Heaven. But the US judge Gary Klausner ruled that a jury could find “substantial” similarity between the first two minutes of Stairway to Heaven and Taurus, which he called “arguably the most recognisable and important segments” of the songs.
“While it is true that a descending chromatic four-chord progression is a common convention that abounds in the music industry, the similarities here transcend this core structure,” Klausner wrote. “What remains is a subjective assessment of the ‘concept and feel’ of two works … a task no more suitable for a judge than for a jury.”
Speaking last year, the former Spirit bassist Mark Andes said he thought that his former bandmate deserved overdue credit for the “fairly blatant” copying of his music by Page and Plant.
Yes, Led Zeppelin took from other people's records - but then they transformed them
“It [Taurus] would typically come after a big forceful number and always got a good response. They would have seen it in that context,” said Andes. “It is fairly blatant, and note for note. It would just be nice if the Led Zeppelin guys gave Randy a little nod. That would be lovely.”
In the suit filed, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin deny that they ever shared a stage with or even had discussions with Spirit’s members when both bands toured the festival circuit in the 1960s. However, Spirit’s surviving band members remember things differently, recalling backstage conversations between the two bands and performing after each other at festivals.
Wolfe had reportedly considered a copyright lawsuit as far back as the 1980s, but his family said he could never afford it. In a 1991 interview, Wolfe said that Led Zeppelin “used to come up and sit in the front row of all [Spirit’s] shows and became friends … and if they wanted to use [Taurus], that’s fine,” adding: “I’ll let [Led Zeppelin] have the beginning of Taurus for their song without a lawsuit.”
Despite the judge’s ruling that a trustee could only get 50% of any damages awarded, the continued royalties generated by Stairway to Heaven means that a large amount is at stake. In 2008, Conde Nast Portfolio magazine estimated that the song had earned at least $525m dollars in royalties and record sales and appears on America’s third biggest-selling album of all time, Led Zeppelin IV.
Spirit’s guitarist Randy Wolfe - who went by the nickname Randy California - never took legal action over the song and died in 1997. But a lawsuit has been filed by his trustee, Michael Skidmore.
“Well, if you listen to the two songs, you can make your own judgment. It’s an exact ... I’d say it was a rip-off,” California said in a magazine interview just before his death, quoted in the lawsuit.
“And the guys made millions of bucks on it and never said ‘Thank you,’ never said, ‘Can we pay you some money for it?’ It’s kind of a sore point with me.”
After two years of legal proceedings, a judge stopped short of agreeing that the song was copied but said there was enough of a case for a jury trial in Los Angeles.
Spirit’s representative “failed to proffer evidence of striking similarity, but he has successfully created a triable issue of fact as to access and substantial similarity,” US district court judge Gary Klausner said in a ruling in May.
The judge said the two sides had “vehemently contested” the question of whether Led Zeppelin had access to Taurus - written in 1967 - before recording Stairway to Heaven in London in December 1970 and January 1971.
Led Zeppelin were the opening act for Spirit when the hard British rockers - Plant, Page, John Paul Jones and the late John Bonham - made their US debut on 26 December 1968 in Denver.
But surviving members of Led Zeppelin submitted testimony to the court that they never had substantive interaction with Spirit or listened to the band’s music.
Once thought unlikely to appear, guitarist Page and singer Plant have already sat for filmed depositions and are expected to attend the opening of the trial in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Opening statements are expected to be heard after the jury is sworn in.
Led Zeppelin argued that the opening of Stairway to Heaven - a descending sequence mostly in A-minor - had been used in music for centuries and that the lawsuit ignored the rest of the song, which builds over eight minutes.
The judge disagreed, writing that the two songs had additional similarities including the bass line.
Skidmore has not specified the total in damages he is seeking but various stories in the music press have posited a possible settlement at anywhere between a symbolic $1 plus a writing credit to as much as $40m.
Джимми Пейдж и Роберт Плант отрицают что вообще когда-либо слушали музыку группы "Спирит",
песню которой, под названием Торэс (Taurus) они, как подозревается, использовали для написания
знаменитой баллады "Лестница в небо" ( Stairway to Heaven).
Фото: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Спирит была психоделической группой из Лос Анжелеса.
Газета "Гардиан" приводит демонстрацию аккордов их песни про белого бычка (Taurus в переводе бык, откуда идут слова тореадор (тореро).
Вам судить, насколько похожи две мелодии и было ли основание предъявлять иск.
К сожалению, надо бежать на работу, поэтому статью переводить некогда.
Кто читает по-английски, найдёт под катом подробные подробности и детальные детали.
It began simply, just a few notes recorded on to a cassette by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant as they sat in a small cottage in the Welsh mountains in 1970.
But the humble history of the opening riff of Led Zeppelin’s most famous song Stairway to Heaven may about to be rewritten.
A case which claims that the opening chords to Led Zeppelin’s biggest hit were in fact stolen from a 1967 song Taurus, by the band Spirit, will be heard by a jury in May, a US judge has ruled. The lawsuit for copyright infringement was brought by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for Randy Wolfe, also known as Randy California, who was Spirit’s guitarist and the composer of Taurus, who died in 1997.
The lawsuit alleges that Page and Plant would have heard Taurus when Spirit and Led Zeppelin were on tour together in the late 1960s, and that it was then directly copied on Stairway to Heaven without ever crediting Wolfe.
The Guardian view on Stairway to Heaven: it’s on another Page
The case was first filed in 2014, in an attempt to block the re-release of Stairway to Heaven. But the US judge Gary Klausner ruled that a jury could find “substantial” similarity between the first two minutes of Stairway to Heaven and Taurus, which he called “arguably the most recognisable and important segments” of the songs.
“While it is true that a descending chromatic four-chord progression is a common convention that abounds in the music industry, the similarities here transcend this core structure,” Klausner wrote. “What remains is a subjective assessment of the ‘concept and feel’ of two works … a task no more suitable for a judge than for a jury.”
Speaking last year, the former Spirit bassist Mark Andes said he thought that his former bandmate deserved overdue credit for the “fairly blatant” copying of his music by Page and Plant.
Yes, Led Zeppelin took from other people's records - but then they transformed them
“It [Taurus] would typically come after a big forceful number and always got a good response. They would have seen it in that context,” said Andes. “It is fairly blatant, and note for note. It would just be nice if the Led Zeppelin guys gave Randy a little nod. That would be lovely.”
In the suit filed, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin deny that they ever shared a stage with or even had discussions with Spirit’s members when both bands toured the festival circuit in the 1960s. However, Spirit’s surviving band members remember things differently, recalling backstage conversations between the two bands and performing after each other at festivals.
Wolfe had reportedly considered a copyright lawsuit as far back as the 1980s, but his family said he could never afford it. In a 1991 interview, Wolfe said that Led Zeppelin “used to come up and sit in the front row of all [Spirit’s] shows and became friends … and if they wanted to use [Taurus], that’s fine,” adding: “I’ll let [Led Zeppelin] have the beginning of Taurus for their song without a lawsuit.”
Despite the judge’s ruling that a trustee could only get 50% of any damages awarded, the continued royalties generated by Stairway to Heaven means that a large amount is at stake. In 2008, Conde Nast Portfolio magazine estimated that the song had earned at least $525m dollars in royalties and record sales and appears on America’s third biggest-selling album of all time, Led Zeppelin IV.
Spirit’s guitarist Randy Wolfe - who went by the nickname Randy California - never took legal action over the song and died in 1997. But a lawsuit has been filed by his trustee, Michael Skidmore.
“Well, if you listen to the two songs, you can make your own judgment. It’s an exact ... I’d say it was a rip-off,” California said in a magazine interview just before his death, quoted in the lawsuit.
“And the guys made millions of bucks on it and never said ‘Thank you,’ never said, ‘Can we pay you some money for it?’ It’s kind of a sore point with me.”
After two years of legal proceedings, a judge stopped short of agreeing that the song was copied but said there was enough of a case for a jury trial in Los Angeles.
Spirit’s representative “failed to proffer evidence of striking similarity, but he has successfully created a triable issue of fact as to access and substantial similarity,” US district court judge Gary Klausner said in a ruling in May.
The judge said the two sides had “vehemently contested” the question of whether Led Zeppelin had access to Taurus - written in 1967 - before recording Stairway to Heaven in London in December 1970 and January 1971.
Led Zeppelin were the opening act for Spirit when the hard British rockers - Plant, Page, John Paul Jones and the late John Bonham - made their US debut on 26 December 1968 in Denver.
But surviving members of Led Zeppelin submitted testimony to the court that they never had substantive interaction with Spirit or listened to the band’s music.
Once thought unlikely to appear, guitarist Page and singer Plant have already sat for filmed depositions and are expected to attend the opening of the trial in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Opening statements are expected to be heard after the jury is sworn in.
Led Zeppelin argued that the opening of Stairway to Heaven - a descending sequence mostly in A-minor - had been used in music for centuries and that the lawsuit ignored the rest of the song, which builds over eight minutes.
The judge disagreed, writing that the two songs had additional similarities including the bass line.
Skidmore has not specified the total in damages he is seeking but various stories in the music press have posited a possible settlement at anywhere between a symbolic $1 plus a writing credit to as much as $40m.
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