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Guitarist Satriani sues Coldplay


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Grammy nominees Coldplay have been sued by rock guitarist Joe Satriani, who claims the band's song Viva La Vida uses one of his riffs.

 

In court papers filed in Los Angeles on Thursday, he said the song used "substantial original portions" of his 2004 instrumental If I Could Fly.

 

Satriani, 52, wants a jury trial and is seeking damages and "any and all profits" for the alleged plagiarism.

 

Coldplay are shortlisted for seven Grammys, including song of the year.

 

Viva La Vida is credited to the band's four members - singer Chris Martin, bass player Guy Berryman, guitarist Johnny Buckland and drummer Will Champion.

 

The song's title was inspired by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

 

It appeared on the album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends - which was released in June and went to number one in 36 countries - and was also one of their hit singles.

 

Satriani's track appears on his album Is There Love in Space?

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7766683.stm

 

http://www.myspace.com/g3live

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good, coldplay sucks. fu*k em
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Quite odd that Coldplay would copy Joe Satriani. You'd think it'd be someone like U2 or The Verve.

 

Could be a coincidence, but that youtube video doesn't help. Still, someone could have thought of that chord progression 30 years ago. Do we let him/her sue Coldplay/Joe Satriani? No one artist 'owns' a chord progression.

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QUOTE (Mandalorian Hunter @ Dec 5 2008, 10:22 PM)
Quite odd that Coldplay would copy Joe Satriani. You'd think it'd be someone like U2 or The Verve.

Could be a coincidence, but that youtube video doesn't help. Still, someone could have thought of that chord progression 30 years ago. Do we let him/her sue Coldplay/Joe Satriani? No one artist 'owns' a chord progression.

It's the melody, not the chord progression, that's at question.

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QUOTE (ReRushed @ Dec 6 2008, 03:26 AM)
QUOTE (Mandalorian Hunter @ Dec 5 2008, 10:22 PM)
Quite odd that Coldplay would copy Joe Satriani. You'd think it'd be someone like U2 or The Verve.

Could be a coincidence, but that youtube video doesn't help. Still, someone could have thought of that chord progression 30 years ago. Do we let him/her sue Coldplay/Joe Satriani? No one artist 'owns' a chord progression.

It's the melody, not the chord progression, that's at question.

Good point, my bad.

 

Coldplay should count themselves lucky Johnny Buckland isn't skilled enough to play that on guitar ( laugh.gif ). Then the shit would have hit the fan.

 

I'm still undecided on it. Surely there must have been so many other instances where bands have come up with a melody that has been similar to another artists, purely because there's so much music out there.

 

I haven't heard the rest of Satriani's song, but is the rest of it similar to the rest of Viva La Vida?

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QUOTE (Mandalorian Hunter @ Dec 5 2008, 10:35 PM)
Aswell, there's already been a problem with this song by some other US band, and the melody to their songs sounds alot like Viva La Vida which, apparently, sounds like a Legend of Zelda tune. Has Satriani ripped off nintendo?

It's probably going to go to court. Let the lawyers and musicologists decide.

 

If George Harrison can be successfully sued, so can Coldplay.

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I can't understand all the Coldplay hate. They're one of the few current bands that deserves all their success. Absolute genius pop music.

 

And as for them ripping off a song, all the best musicians have ripped off other artists. Even George Harrison stole a song and was involved in a lawsuit over it.

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QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Dec 6 2008, 07:06 AM)
QUOTE (Mandalorian Hunter @ Dec 5 2008, 10:30 PM)
I'm still undecided on it. Surely there must have been so many other instances where bands have come up with a melody that has been similar to another artists, purely because there's so much music out there.

My point exactly. Thanks for that!

 

Another thing I've wondered about this, should Satriani really get full profits over the song? He didn't write the lyrics, and the rest of his song and the rest of Viva La Vida sound nothing like each other. Coldplay probably wrote the chord progression first before writing the melody to the song, so it'd be easy to string those notes together without hearing the riff before.

 

I'd like to know why it took him 7 months to start this aswell.

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QUOTE (Spindrift82 @ Dec 6 2008, 03:08 PM)
I can't understand all the Coldplay hate. They're one of the few current bands that deserves all their success. Absolute genius pop music.

rofl3.gif rofl3.gif rofl3.gif rofl3.gif rofl3.gif rofl3.gif rofl3.gif

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