Did Coldplay Copy Joe Satriani? Let's Do the Music Theory: PART 1

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The Bottom Line...
Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay for music plagiarism for the Verse section of their song, "Viva La Vida," - claiming that the Chorus of his 2005 song, "If I Could Fly," has the same; melody, harmony & rhythm.

Satriani's Lawsuit states, "substantial original portions," of his 2005 instrumental piece, "If I Could Fly," were copied. The copyright infringement suit was filed in Los Angeles federal court on December 4. Satriani has asked for:

1). A Jury trial.
2). Damages.
3). Profits from Viva La Vida.

The general public's response has been overwhelming! And, especially from guitar players around the world...

Is the Joe Satriani song too simular to the Coldplay song?
We'll wait and see what happens...

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

IF THIS GOES TO COURT...

THE COURT'S VIEW WILL BE SOMETHING LIKE:
The music plagiarism trial court judge will need to hear and decide several facts presented by both sides for this case to establish a jury and then go to trial.

The court will approach comparing the music in lay terms. They will view only essential elements of what all music is based on. Music elements which establish the essence of a musical composition - making individual songs unique.

1). The music plagiarism trial court judge will hear and decide facts presented on by both sides.

JOE SATRIANI:
- The court will be presented with music plagiarism evidence on: Melody, harmony, rhythm, and to a lesser degree dynamics, (since these are the lay characteristics of music).

(a). First, the plaintiff (Joe) must show that the defendant actually, physically copied the plaintiffs work. (That will be tough). Who witnessed/knew that he, (Coldplay), actually did do it and will testify as to this when Satriani has his day in court?

(b). Second, the plaintiff must show that such copying was improper because it was of elements under copyright protection.

*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_plagiarism

Don't forget - the court will be viewing Coldplay as innocent when the trial starts. Maybe Coldplay didn't do it on purpose?

Satriani will more than likely face tough challenges to win his case. The 2008 Coldplay song released to the public is certainly quite a match to Satriani's piece. However, a court trial for music plagiarism is extremely complex...

Think about this... in 1997, The Rolling Stones were informed, (at a pre-launch party by Keith Richard's son nonetheless), that they had unintentionally copied KD Lang's 1992 song, "Constant Craving," with their tune, "Anybody Seen My Baby." Before the CD hit stores, The Rolling Stones immediately contacted Lang and worked out a retroactive song credit. K.D. Lang agreed on song publishing royalties with the Stones - since the songs were quite obviously sharing obvious primary elements of musical composition They were lucky - it was caught early on!


ON THE STREETS:
Ouside of court, this argument/lawsuit will probably all boil down to who you are a fan of. I would expect Coldplay fans might not think that the songs are too similar. And Satriani fans, (being made up of primarily guitarists & musicians), are going to be fairly pissed off that the tempo, meter, chorus melody and the bulk of the chord changes of the Coldplay song are pretty much exactly the same as the chorus of a Satriani tune composed three years ago. Guitar players stand behind their fellow axe slingers till death, "You can have my guitar when you pry my cold dead fingers off of it."

Don't get mad at me if this video upsets you. (Coldplay fans) I've not made any 100% decisions that Coldplay copied anybody, (looks like a judge will decide that). I am only putting a few of the pieces of the music theory associated to these songs out there for people to talk about, think about, and hopefully understand the overall situation a little better.

DEC. 6th, 2008 Announcement:
I have disabled comments due to the increased swearing and vicious fighting between YouTube members, (Coldplay VS. Satriani fans). I have deleted all previously posted comments which had used threatening & vulgar language.

Please visit my Blog to read more and leave your comments!
Thanks for watching.

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