About two weeks ago, a friend had asked me to listen to a track from the new Coldplay album. My first reaction was,“ No way! I actually like Chris Martin and happen to think his music rocks! X & Y was no fun and I do NOT want another album that sounds like everything else.” Nevertheless I listened to Life in Technicolour and turned down the volume. With that I decided I had had enough of the new album. Then a couple of weeks later, this little piece of information came to me – the Coldplay & Satriani Controversy. Within a few minutes I was online, researching. I had no clue thata) Coldplay had bagged THREE Grammys this year, including Album of the Year b) Joe Satriani had a case of the ol’ sour grapes When I first heard the track Viva La Vida, I thought it was boring and needed something like the characteristic chords of Coldplay like Clocks or Politik to get me interested. The lyrics rhymed! Since when did Chris Martin sing in rhymes? And then like a thunderbolt from Harry’ s head it hit me. I was complaining either way! Coldplay have become extremely repetitive but if they try anything new, I would rather have their good old signature sound. In the meantime, this new angle of a Joe Satriani controversy excited me. When I discovered that there was an actual lawsuit filed by Satch accusing Coldplay of plagiarism, I got the Satriani track and did my own little comparative study. Reacting impulsively, it seemed to me that Viva La Vida has borrowed the beat of If I Could Fly and made it their melody, while the initial guitar riff seems to influence Chris Martin’ s vocals. I said,“ Penny for your thoughts?” to a few friends and this is what came up- |
But this is not a debate on the scope of intellectual property rights. The only question on my mind is- Can creativity be boundless or are we limited to the available resources? If bands like The Shins and Dave Matthews can come up with something completely new( Fortunately, without a touch of hip-hop in it. Really, what is it with hiphop being the only thing on TV these days?), why are other bands struggling? The bottom line: Coldplay made a hit and created a niche for themselves with an excellent Plan A which included some exceptional tracks like Yellow, In My Place and The Scientist. Their plan B ended up in a lawsuit. They are a band that almost everyone likes but getting caught up in such a controversy does raise a few questions and eyebrows alike. My biggest issue here is that Coldplay does not have a successful plan B. As for Joe Satriani, he is a fast fading guitar maestro who, in this time of recession, is thinking of alternative investments and ways to make a fast buck. |
Amrit Rao, Vocalist, 5am |
Pic: Ebet Roberts |
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Eddie, DJ / Musician, Exodus Events
“ Playing Coldplay’ s Viva La Vida strangely reminded me of Anu Malik’ s tribute to Bob Marley and his honour to the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’ s Mera Piya Ghar Aaya for Yarana through the song.
Satch and Coldplay’ s songs come in handy when I need to take a break. I could play both the tracks back to back without anyone knowing the difference. Neither Satch nor Coldplay is at fault, but the guy who usually sells them the tunes ripped both of them off!”
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Siddharth Srinivasan, Guitarist, Junkyard Groove
“ As musicians, melodies occur to us which might sound radio-friendly, and then you realize someone has already tried that tune somewhere. For rock artists, every other riff you write has a cousin somewhere like in the songs of Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. Music and artists through the years do influence you in ways that you aren’ t always conscious about. And when you decide to evolve, mistakes do happen and it is not intentional but sub-conscious, so the benefit of doubt has to be awarded.
To assume that Coldplay ripped off Satriani when they come from two different genres is silly. They simply have no need to do that.”
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“ A song or tune can be copyrighted but not melody or scale. In this case both the tracks have the same melody and scale, so there are bound to be similarities. Music, unfortunately, has limitations and is restricted to 7 notes. It is just a coincidence. Can a writer accuse another of using ABCs?” As for me, I write lyrics occasionally. I’ d be listening to a song, and because I’ m so moved by it, I would start writing some of my own lines. True story – Once I wrote‘ Wake up to see you in a puddle on the floor’ and later realized it has roots in Sheryl Crow’ s Tomorrow Never Dies [‘ I’ m like a puddle on the floor’] Some things just sound right and fit into something that you have created. Although it is perfect, it might belong to someone else. Unless the copy has been made intentionally, there can be no law that states that creativity has to be exclusive. |