Coldplay In Court: Denies Copying 'Viva La Vida'

LOS ANGELES — Coldplay has denied in federal court that it copied parts of Joe Satriani's music for its hit song, "Viva La Vida."

In a response filed in Los Angeles on Monday, attorneys for Coldplay's band members also argued that any similarities between "Viva La Vida" and Satriani's "If I Could Fly" weren't enough to warrant damages.

Satriani's song "lacks originality," Coldplay's response claims, and shouldn't receive copyright protection.

Satriani sued Coldplay in December, claiming the British band used "substantial, original portions" of Satriani's "If I Could Fly," which was released in 2004.

Satriani's lawyer, Howard E. King, said Coldplay's response was typical for copyright infringement cases and he reiterated that he thought the matter could have been resolved without a lawsuit.

Comments

[taotedali]

I'm a musician of 30 years. Viva la Vida Definately sounds like Satriani. You can pull them both up on youtube. Listen to "If I could fly" from 49 seconds on. It's Identical aside from tempo. Is Satriani damaged by Coldplay? Is it worth sueing over? Probably not.

[taotedali]

Neil Diamond could sue everyone after 1960 for using a G-C-D chord progresssion.

[tinarm]

OH, come on people, most of todays music has the same melody or chord progression. So if Coldplay had the same 4 of the same bars would that be plagerisim, how about 2 or 6. All of the music sounds similar today, that's what happens. The same thing happened in the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's. I just think he's out for the money. Music is universal I hope Satriani loses big time.

[HWNA]

Satriani doesn't NEED their money.

He was playing backup guitar for the Rolling Stones when those boys were still doodling on their Trapper Keepers.

[LeftisBetter]

When they are found guilty they should return their Grammy's. These guys are pathetic

[learntofly]

Those pastel military jackets need to be burned.

[TJCole]

They'd better hope the judge is deaf...

[STILLPISSED]

Joe sounds a lot like Santana there. And Coldplay just might have to pay !!! Ain't that about an Apple ...errr I mean a Peach.

[MalMNN]

and now you can play their/Joe's song on your iPhone----

http://www.musicnewsnet.com/2009/04/coldplay-signs-on-to-tap-tap-revenge-.html

[HLL]

I love Coldplay, but to my ears, in a side by side musical comparison, it sounds like Coldplay totally ripped off Joe Satriani's melody and rhythm. I think the band owes Joe major bucks and that Joe should collect.

Decide yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb49QuPLuHg

[kdlaiusa]

Coldplay is pretentious and overrated. It's true that people are "inspired" by other songs to write their own. But it should be done tactfully so that the similarity does not amplify plagarism. Viva La Vida has obviously used the manin melody of If I Could Fly and that's enough for Satriani to win the case.

Noone knows if George Harrison has copied My Sweet Lord, but he still lost the case and had to pay millions.

[superjules]

Don't care much about the ripping off of the music, just ha te Coldplay with the venom of a thousand vipers. Hope they lose their literal shirts. They're ugly.

[RedDogBear]

When this story first broke someone put a link to a YouTube video that had the two songs first separately and then played simultaneously. Not only was it obvious listening to them sequentially how identical they were but when played together they didn't sound like something by Charles Ives but rather like an average mediocre pop song. I normally don't support these kind of suits because musicians borrow from each other consciously and otherwise all the time and I think its kind of low to try and take someone to court over it but in this case it is so blatant I think Satriani should and will win.

[UncleJimbo]

If Harrison lost "My Sweet Lord/He's So Fine" Cold Play should lose! If it sounds like a Duck.....

[TVI]

Wow, talk about your frivolous lawsuits...Satriani is a great guitar player, and I respect his talent, but his claim is baseless.

Here's why:

The chord structure of the "chorus" of "If I Could Fly" (assuming a major key) is a simple 4-5-1-6 progression (6-7-3-1 if you wish to see the song in a minor key). Satriani can't possibly think he's the first guy ever to use it. That progression is certainly not groundbreakingly original (which is what I believe Coldplay meant when referring to the lack of originality in Satriani's song. So throw out chord progression as the source of infringement, otherwise there would only be about 100 original pop songs in the world, and say goodbye to 90% of blues and old country/bluegrass songs.

Any similarities between the melodies of VLV and one brief section of IICF seem to be purely coincidental. I hate to say it, but this seems more about trying to squeeze Coldplay for some easy cash since they've become so huge. Is Satriani trying to make a claim that Coldplay benefited from piggybacking on the "monstrous success" of his song? Where is the supposed damage? If anything, "If I Could Fly" has now received more attention because of Coldplay's status, which I suspect was the secondary gain Satriani hoped to reap from bringing this ridiculous suit.

Sorry, but my respect for the guy just dropped quite a bit.

[Temsi]

Chord progression is one thing, but the melodies are practically the same.
You can't seriously expect anyone to believe that two composers happened to write the same melody for 12 bars purely by coincidence?
It's not just similar, it's the same exact melody.
But then again this is not the first time Coldplay has been accused of plagiarism, it's their thing.
Attention is one thing, and I'm not saying Satch's song hasn't garnered more mainstream attention because of this, I'm saying it's irrelevant. It wouldn't matter if he'd only sold one copy of the song, copyright is copyright, and they violated his.

I don't know who you are, so my respect for you remains unchanged, i.e. none.
I do know Satch and my respect for him remains unchanged, i.e. massive.

Where is the supposed damage, you ask?
How about the fact that they're profiting from his creative work?
Damage doesn't have to be in the form of diminished returns on his original work in order for it to be damage. He wrote the melody, they're profiting from it and he's not. That seems like a pretty simple basis for claims of damages.

Satriani doesn't need to mooch off of anyone like you're suggesting., he's a very successful and highly respected guitar virtuoso who's been in the business longer than most Coldplay's members have been out of diapers.

[benji85]

Like you said, the melody is a major part of the case to determine infringement. Also Coldplay's prior exposure to the song which would play a major role into a win or lose of the case.

[Milash]

Thanks for explaining this more clearly.

[HWNA]

Joe Satriani doesn't need to squeeze people for "easy cash", the guy is hugely successful in what he does.

[Yamunation]

If Coldplay wins this, there's gotta be some serious bribing of the judge.

Anyone who has listened to the two can clearly hear the plagiarism.

[herocious]

i don't know about that, yamunation. if we start allowing musicians to claim ownership of the "descending melody", who knows where we might end up. here's the latest analysis of the coldplay case:

http://theopenend.com/2009/04/12/coldplay-vs-joe-satriani-a-melody-comparison/

lots of insightful comments from musicians too. i'm just saying.