Cyndi Lauper Sued Over KINKY BOOTS Song

I'm not really seeing the similarity. Three notes?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marchershberg/2019/04/04/kinky-boots-to-keep-on-kicking-in-court/#3ae9d0d84021

But, bad timing with the closing on 4/7.

Name that tune in ...

 

haterobics said: "Call_me_jorge said: "geoffreyC said: "Omg did they really think nobody would notice?"

I mean it did take 5 full years for someone to"

It will take lawyers far less time to find a ton of other songs that use the same chord progression and melody. Unless there is sampling, it's kind of crazy to think someone lifted your music. You can just hear them do something you identify as your own without thinking that you also didn't invent the wheel ..."

 

^^^seconded. Wow. I can’t believe this is even a thing happening. 

 

And it´s not the only song on that score! The music for the dance break in the song What a woman wants is almost identical to a Brazilian tune called Tristeza. 

https://youtu.be/gQFKCM63IUo

 

romain2 said: "What bothers me is the part of the lawsuit that says the song should never be performed again. That seems to be going over the top. I mean a judge rules Lauper needs to pay up then fine, pay up. But to pull the song completely?"

That's pretty much a standard request, in addition to payment of course. Copyright infringement is very difficult to prove, because the burden is on the plaintiff to show that the defendant didn't just happen to come up with the same idea on her own.

romain2 said: "Read recently that Benny Mardones has been ill and needs financial help. I feel bad for the guy. But it might explain the lawsuit. https://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/2018/12/benny_mardones_hospital_medical_costs.htmlAs for the songs. Yeah, they are similar but for only for a brief moment. Lauper’s song goes in a different direction very quickly. What bothers me is the part of the lawsuit that says the song should never be performed again. That seems to be going over the top. I mean a judge rules Lauper needs to pay up then fine, pay up. But to pull the song completely?"

Wow. Really interesting -- thanks for sharing! I guess that this makes sense now.

I barely recognized it when i listened to both songs. In addition, it's just odd how they raised this several years after Kinky Boots went on Broadway. How come people didn't make a fuzz about this back in 2013? I feel people talked about the similarities between Dear Evan Hansen's "You will be Found" and Pitch Perfect 2's "Flashlight" more. 

You may need to check your hearing.  The part I listened to sounded like a direct lift.  

" Yes, but the larger question is, in the history of music, did this one person in the 1980s come up with this thing that had never been done before? Or does he think he invented it the same way Cyndi probably did, without recognizing that he just heard it as well, only no one came forward to sue him about it before? "

George Harrison was sued and lost about 1.5 million for something called "subconscious plagiarism" years ago when the hit "My Sweet Lord" was similar to "He's So Fine" and I think that sounds like what you were saying.

Updated On: 4/6/19 at 10:38 PM

yankeefan7 said: "George Harrison was sued and lost about 1.5 million for something called "subconscious plagiarism" years ago when the hit "My Sweet Lord" was similar to "He's So Fine" and I think that sounds like what you were saying."

Harrison admitted in court to being familiar with He's So Fine, though. I think that is slightly different from whether Lauper may have heard this song as background noise at some point, assuming she didn't just write the same thing... I mean, I could technically rip off Post Malone, but right now, I couldn't name a single song of his, never purchased any of his music, but I may have heard it out and about, which isn't the same as knowing and forgetting.