Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars Sued over Uptown Funk.

[Deleted]

Not sure if this is meant for News & Entertainment or Lets Talk Business. If it fits more in LTB, feel free to move it there.


www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bruno-mars-mark-ronson-face-lawsuit-over-uptown-funk-w447470


Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson are facing a copyright infringement lawsuit that claims their hit "Uptown Funk" borrows heavily from funk group Collage's 1983 single "Young Girls."


In their lawsuit, obtained by Pitchfork, Collage state that "many of the main instrumental attributes and themes of 'Uptown Funk' are deliberately and clearly copied from 'Young Girls.'"

This includes "the distinct funky specifically noted and timed consistent guitar riffs present throughout the compositions, virtually if not identical bass notes and sequence, rhythm, structure, crescendo of horns and synthesizers rendering the compositions almost indistinguishable if played over each other and strikingly similar if played in consecutively," the lawsuit continued.

Representatives for Ronson and Mars did not immediately responds to requests for comment.

According to TMZ, Collage added that Mars and Ronson admitted in interviews to being inspired by the Eighties Minneapolis and electro-funk scenes that Collage belonged to. Collage are seeking unspecified damages and profits.

Ever since the arrival of the retro-sounding "Uptown Funk" in November 2014, Mars and Ronson have battled accusations of copyright infringement, including the threat of a lawsuit from funk group the Sequence, who argued Mars and Ronson's single copied their 1979 song "Funk You Up." However, the Sequence never formally sued Mars and Ronson.

In April 2015, while "Uptown Funk" still clung to the top of the Hot 100, the credited songwriters on the track quietly jumped from six (including Mars, Ronson and "All Gold Everything" singer Trinidad James) to 11 after a claim on the track was put forth by publisher Minder Music on behalf of funk group the Gap Band.

The claim, which never went to court, contended that "Uptown Funk" shared overwhelming similarities to the Gap Band's "Oops! Upside Your Head"; the chorus on both singles is nearly identical cadence-wise. As a result, the Gap Band's Charlie, Ronnie and Robert Wilson as well as two band members were added as "Uptown Funk" songwriters.

[Gary]

The Gap Band song was obvious and it is clear why they won.

This one won't go as far

[Bigfatliar 3]

Finally they did this. But what make them took so long? 

According to TMZ, Collage added that Mars and Ronson admitted in interviews to being inspired by the Eighties Minneapolis and electro-funk scenes that Collage belonged to. Collage are seeking unspecified damages and profits.

[Rican@]

Oct 30, 2016 15:45:05 GMT -5 Bigfatliar 3 said:

Finally they did this. But what make them took so long? 

According to TMZ, Collage added that Mars and Ronson admitted in interviews to being inspired by the Eighties Minneapolis and electro-funk scenes that Collage belonged to. Collage are seeking unspecified damages and profits.

I have heard it is better to wait until the success of a song before suing. The pay out would be greater than to say when it was in the early stage of charting.

Anyway, I'm not shocked that this song may be up to questions on writers and production more and more once years passed by. I never cared for it, but knew it was a sound I heard before. I never understood the popularity, but to each his own.

[Libra]

Opting to move this to Let's Talk Business, given that's where the Robin Thicke lawsuit thread also is.

[Deleted]

The riffs in these two songs are not overwhelmingly similar enough for this claim to hold muster, IMO; and trying to support their cause by saying Mark and Bruno admitted being influenced by the r&b and funk scenes they were part of makes about as much sense as Mariah suing Ariana Grande because Ariana admitted being influenced by '90s pop divas. Also, no shade but Collage's song sounds like a watered down version of several other songs from that era so if anything was ripped off it was probably one of those better songs.

The thing with UF! is that it literally sounds like every r&b/funk groove from 1982-1985 - that was the entire point of the song, to recall that whole wave - so at some point these lawsuits are just nonsensical. We're dangerously close to if not already past the point where people are suing over mere influences and passing similarities, and not legit copyright infringement issues.** Thanks, Obama Gaye fam!


**For the record I do think Gap Band deserved the retroactive credit on UF!; that melodic riff was unmistakable. I also didn't disagree with the verdict in the Blurred Lines case, I just detested how that verdict was reached and believed that it would set a terrible precedent for copyright lawsuits in the future.