MUSIC NEWS - Rock guitarist Joe Satriani has sued the British band Coldplay , accusing the Grammy-nominated band of plagiarizing his song, If I Could Fly . His copyright infringement suit was filed on Thursday (12/4/08) in LA federal court, claims the Coldplay song "Viva La Vida " incorporates "substantial original portions" of Satriani's 2004 instrumental tune ! He is seeking a jury trial, damages and "any and all profits" from the alleged copyright infringement. Coldplay, just received seven Grammy nominations on Wednesday, and is currently with the biggest selling album of the year, Viva La Vida . The song in question is credited to Coldplay's four members, singer/leader Chris Martin; bass player Guy Berryman; guitarist Johnny Buckland; and drummer Will Champion.
The Satriani tune is from his album "Is There No Love In Space? ". No additional comment from Satriani or his attorney, or any reaction from Coldplay (currently on tour) was made.
Listen and you make the comparison of the two songs (below) and comment to MNN on what you think--
I'm inclined to agree that it is pure coincidence and the melody (over a very common chord progression) matches for only two bars of a repeated four bar pattern. Satriani is pushing his luck here. The only people to profit from this nonsense will be the lawyers.
Comments (3)
wow.
Such a basic melody..............my guess is that it's one big coincidence.
I'm inclined to agree that it is pure coincidence and the melody (over a very common chord progression) matches for only two bars of a repeated four bar pattern. Satriani is pushing his luck here. The only people to profit from this nonsense will be the lawyers.