Ed Sheeran Accused of Ripping Off Marvin Gaye
Patrick Howley
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Progressive-generation singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran stands accused of ripping off the work of Marvin Gaye by directly copying Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On.” Sheeran is now being sued $100 million by a one-third owner of Marvin Gaye’s recording estate.
Sheeran is trying to defend himself from this and another lawsuit by saying that the melody and chords of Gaye’s song is “extremely commonplace” and the rest of the song elements are “unprotectable.”
Business Insider reports:Â “According to the lawsuit, Sheeran’s song has the same melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bassline, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation and looping as ‘Let’s Get it On,'” TMZ reported. Sheeran was also sued over “Thinking Out Loud” in 2016. The family of Ed Townsend, a cowriter on Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” sued Sheeran, arguing that “Thinking Out Loud” lifted the melody, harmony, and other rhythmic components from Gaye’s track. Sheeran responded to the 2016 suit in documents obtained by TMZ last week. He reportedly claimed that the chord progressions and drum patterns of both songs are “extremely commonplace,” and that similar elements in “Let’s Get It On” are in the public domain and unprotectable.”
Here is Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” (presented first, because it is a great song).
Now we will show you the video for Ed Sheeran’s song.
Robin Thicke’s hit song “Blurred Lines” from a few years ago was also accused of being ripped off from Marvin Gaye (Thicke and Farrell paid $7.4 million to the children of Marvin Gaye in a lawsuit after a jury found it to be a ripoff of “Got To Give It Up.”)
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