Devastating News Regarding Led Zeppelin

Old news. My view is LedZep should share some of the dollars they make - that's only fair. And the plaintiffs shouldn't have to go to court.

On a related note ;), on my phone I carry 19 covers of House of the Rising Sun going back to 1929. Always a few moments of fun when this subject comes up.
 
Be interesting to see how it pans out in court, pharrel and that other oak got solidly plundered by the estate of Marvin Gate recently $15mill I think for appropriating some bits from one song.
 
Led Zeppelin told they can settle “Stairway To Heaven” lawsuit for $1
Led Zeppelin have been told they can settle the “Stairway To Heaven” lawsuit for a $1.

The case was brought against the band by lawyer Francis Malofiy on behalf of Michael Skidmore, administrator of the trust of the late Randy Wolfe, aka Spirit’s Randy California.

Malofiy stated that California should be given a writing credit on the track as it resembles Spirit’s 1968 song “Taurus”.

Zeppelin and Spirit toured together in 1968 and 1969.

According to Bloomberg News, the $1 offer would come at a bigger price: Randy California would need a writing credit on the track as well as a share in its future profits. “It’s always been about credit where credit is due,” said Malofiy.

The case cites a 2008 agreement that Page and Plant made with Warner/Chappell Music, where they receive $60m over 10 years for the company’s right to use “Stairway To Heaven” and other songs.

Malofiy has requested at least two thirds of that amount should be allocated to the infringing period – which adds up to $40m.

Skidmore has said any windfall would support the Randy California Project, which supplies musical instruments and lessons to students at low-income schools in California.
Click to expand...


Read more at uncut.co.uk
 
The 4 chord thing is dumb and overhyped. Yes there are more popular progressions that can be heard in many songs. But the progression on this video is not even the ones the songs necessarily use. You can rewrite it in E major, D major and choose whatever songs is in that key and they will harmonically mix with it.
 
Led Zeppelin win 'Stairway to Heaven' lawsuit

Led Zeppelin have won the 'Stairway to Heaven' plagiarism lawsuit after a jury deemed that the band did not lift Spirit's song 'Taurus'
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NME
 
The main intro/lick of stairway definitely sounds virtually identical to the spirit song, granted suing this long after the fact is a bit ridiculous.
 
Very difficult to call out plagiarism on chord progressions though. You only have 7 modes in music: Aeolian, Ionion, phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian and Dorion.

With those limitations, chord progressions are almost guaranteed to coincide with one another. How many songs use the G - EM - C and D progression alone is staggering, anything from Trance, Hip Hop, Metal, Jazz you name it.

[video=youtube;IF47dr8sVyE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF47dr8sVyE[/video]
 
Here is an example of a mode and how it integrates with a song. In the video above at 1:10 he is playing a D minor scale. Now listen to this theme song from Silent Hill.

[video=youtube;45-wWYwNy-w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45-wWYwNy-w[/video]
 
Been a musician for about 21 years now. Often halfway through writing a new song I will stop and crumple it up, realizing that the particular chord progression and mode I was using, sounded exactly like something from In Flames or Dimmu Borgir or something familiar. Hence I've never been a great song writer. The true greats come up with something radical and unfamiliar. I think LZ can be forgiven for this as it's very common. Although they may just not be as "great" as we all thought they were.
 
I don't know the phrasing was a little bit too close for comfort and even the end part was virtually the same.

Your point about there only being so many modes and chord progressions is true but timing can make the same progression sound very different.

Anyone it's not what you do but how you do it and what you make of it, thank god Led Zeppelin did what ever they had to do to make Stairway to heaven, it's undeniably an awesome song.
 
Lawsuit settled finally:
www.bbc.com

Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven copyright battle is finally over

The US Supreme Court refuses to hear an appeal, meaning the long-running copyright case is over.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
Led Zeppelin won the case in 2016, but it was revived on appeal in 2018.

A court of appeals upheld the original verdict earlier this year. Now, the US Supreme Court has declined to hear the case, definitively ending it.
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