Satriani Sues Coldplay

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE4B40XV20081205

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rock guitarist Joe Satriani has sued British band Coldplay, accusing the Grammy-nominated stars of plagiarizing one of his songs.

Satriani's copyright infringement suit, filed on Thursday in Los Angeles federal court, claims the Coldplay song "Viva La Vida" incorporates "substantial original portions" of his 2004 instrumental "If I Could Fly."

The 52-year-old guitar virtuoso is seeking a jury trial, damages and "any and all profits" attributable to the alleged copyright infringement.

Let me first say that I am a fan of Coldplay despite their haters. I'm also a huge, longtime fan of Joe Satriani. I even had the good fortune of meeting him and shaking his hand in '89. For the record, his hand was soft and supple like butter and he was a genuinely nice individual.

Anyway, here's a video comparison:

I'll say that the melodies are nearly identical except for the flourishes that Satriani puts in at the end. However, this is not a complicated melody. It's a pretty simple line and it would be no surprise that two or more writers came up with it independently. Furthermore, the harmonic structure is directly tied to the melody so it's no suprise to me that the root movement is the same. When you listen to the songs whole, they're different except for this main hook. What's more likely; that Chris Martin happened upon the same melody whether through hearing it somewhere or at random or did Martin and company (one of the biggest bands in the world) deliberately ripoff one of the foremost pioneers of instrumental guitar rock and put it out there for all the world to see?

I venture to guess there's another song out there that uses the same or similar melody. Boom pow zing! There is! This is the second time that Coldplay has been accused of lifting a melodic hook for the song Viva La Vida. The Creaky Boards claim Coldplay stole their idea. Why isn't Satriani suing the Creaky Boards?

It makes me wonder where music comes from. Are we just channeling bits of some cosmic song? Do Satriani and Coldplay share a musical consciousness? Perhaps they should just put their differences aside an make a record together.

I think Satriani will likely lose this one though. This is simply what happens when you're one of the biggest bands in the world. No one is suing the countless unknown bands who sound exactly like other more popular bands. There's no money in that.