Musicians Take Control of Their Work (mostly...)
Musicians were seen taking the control of their work over the last few months. Making headlines again is Taylor Swift for trademarking her lyrics (apparently a first in US music law).
Swift's lyric about "this sick beat" in 'Shake It Off' is now trademarked (though we're still fuzzy on what 'sick beat'). So are her lyrics "party like it's 1989" (a riff on Prince's classic) and "nice to meet you, where you been?".
Her lawyers say Swift's staking out her territory, so that "third parties" can never ever ever snag her fave catch phrases (without asking first).
Meanwhile, we wish to tip our hats to Tom Petty, for going easy on Sam Smith's hit "Stay With Me" sounding a heck of a lot like Petty's hit "I Won't Back Down".
Petty basically told Smith, 'Give me credit on your track for what's mine, and we're good.'
Pretty classy, and he and co-writer Jeff Lynne get a cut of "Stay With Me" royalties to boot. Smart fella. Of course, the lyrics to "I Won't Back Down" might have helped, too.
What neither Petty nor Smith were likely expecting was a rather stellar mashup of their songs: well worth a listen.
And in the interest of keeping you up on newsworthy musical mashups, don't miss this one with "Beckyonce" (Beck + Beyonce, boldly defying king curmudgeon Kanye [just imagine what he's gonna be like as an old man!]). Enjoy!