San Francisco Frontiers - Tape of you: Sheeran films songwriting sessions after court case

NYSE - LSE

RBGPF	0%	66	$
CMSC	0.28%	21.81	$
RYCEF	-0.91%	18.7	$
GSK	3.22%	53.71	$
BCC	2.69%	80.38	$
NGG	-0.43%	80.86	$
RIO	-0.34%	91.64	$
RELX	5.59%	37.76	$
CMSD	0.32%	22.12	$
JRI	0%	12.91	$
VOD	3.6%	16.39	$
BCE	2.61%	21.81	$
BTI	2.38%	62.3	$
AZN	1.65%	172.48	$
BP	-1.54%	41.67	$

Tape of you: Sheeran films songwriting sessions after court case

ECONOMY 08.04.2022

Tape of you: Sheeran films songwriting sessions after court case / Photo: ©

Ed Sheeran says he now films his songwriting sessions to try to avoid future copyright claims after winning a high-profile court case this week.

Text size:

The British singer-songwriter gave his first interview after a judge in London's High Court ruled Wednesday that his smash-hit "Shape of You" did not lift musical phrases from another track.

"Now I just film everything, everything is on film," he told BBC television in the interview shown Friday.

"We've had claims come through on the songs and we go, well here's the footage and you watch. You'll see there's nothing there," Sheeran said.

"I personally think the best feeling in the world is the euphoria around the first idea of writing a great song.

"That feeling has now turned into 'oh wait, let's stand back for a minute'. You find yourself in the moment, second-guessing yourself."

Judge Antony Zacaroli said that Sheeran "neither deliberately nor subconsciously" copied a phrase from British grime track "Oh Why", when writing "Shape of You".

Sheeran's 2017 song remains the most-streamed song ever on Spotify, with more than three billion streams.

It won Sheeran, 31, a Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance. He, along with several others, has a writing credit on the track.

But two other songwriters, Sami Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue, alleged that the song had musical similarities to their own composition "Oh Why", performed under Chokri's stage-name Sami Switch.

Sheeran told the BBC that he regretted settling a prior plagiarism case in the United States over his 2017 song "Photograph", and said "there was no other choice" but to fight the UK claim.

"Shape of You" co-writer John McDaid, of the band Snow Patrol, said the London court case had "got really heavy and it was consuming".

"The cost to our mental health and creativity was really tangible," he said, while concurring with Sheeran that artists had to fight back against a mounting wave of copyright claims in the streaming age.

C.Williams--SFF

Featured

Mixed day for global stocks but oil prices fall along with chip shares

Wall Street stocks mostly rose Tuesday behind solid earnings and a pullback in oil prices, offsetting weakness in chip shares and in Asian equity markets.

Spain lets wildfire evacuees return but France fears flames spreading

Spanish residents forced to flee some of the worst wildfires in living memory began returning to their homes on Tuesday but thousands more were ordered to leave in France over fears that a looming heatwave would prevent containment of fires that have ripped through the country's southwest.

AI glasses help propel EssilorLuxottica sales growth

Sales of AI-enabled eyeglasses, which have nearly doubled since last year, helped EssilorLuxottica accelerate second-quarter growth, the world's largest maker of eyeglasses reported Tuesday.

GSJJ Launches ESG-Certified Custom Challenge Coins and Pin Badges

GSJJ today announced the launch of a new product line of Custom Challenge Coins and Custom Pin Badges designed to support corporate recognition programs and employee retention initiatives in 2026, integrating defined production methods, tiered material options, environmentally certified materials, and coordinated display and packaging solutions.