I really thought I was going to let this one go until the Coldplay / Satriani plagiarism case was either settled or reached a verdict, but Coldplay and their record label EMI Music have really ticked me off.
As many of you know, I have written about this case a couple of times already: Tag – Coldplay
I’m not going to bother recapping the story. If you care to know, feel free to check out the previous entries.
I am a little on the OCD side when it comes to web design… and few things make me more irritated than links and functionality that do not work properly.
So, when one of my readers emailed me pointing out that my favorite YouTube video comparing both Viva La Vida & If I Could Fly, and then layering Coldplay’s vocals over Satriani’s guitar had been removed by order of EMI Music, I was pretty annoyed.
I just cannot stand having dead links… o boy does it tick me off that when you click on those videos all you see is, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by EMI Music.”
This is a clear admission that there is something to this case because EMI Music hasn’t pulled all of the videos that play Viva La Vida, they just pulled the damning one.
And since I am now committed to not letting this go because EMI and in turn, Coldplay have created dead links on my blog, I am going to retaliate by posting this, even more damning video that explains using music theory that Coldplay is in some seriously hot water. Have a look while you can. See the video before the control freaks at EMI censor this guy too.
EMI – You cannot stop the spread of information on the Internet, and trying is futile. If you take this video down, someone will make another, and taking the video down doesn’t change the truth. The easy answer to this problem is to encourage the bands on your label to either write their own material, or cite the material that they copy and pay the proper royalties.
The Geek Whisperer 
You? OCD about web design? I would have never gathered…
Then again, that’s what *I* depend on you for..
Right on man. I like it. I was really pissed when the youtube clips came down too. It’s ridiculous. Youtube needs to grow a pair and understand the concept of fair use.
You might like the Coldplagiarism shirt I designed:
http://www.zazzle.com/coldplagiarism_viva_la_fraude_t_shirt-235701356821717844?gl=monkeyclown&rf=238266558925436073
No doubt Coldplagiarism happened here. Coldplay’s arrogance will bite them in the ass. Any real musician can see how extremely close both the melody and the chord progression are. While it is true that you can’t copyright a chord progression, the work in question becomes all the more suspect when you add a virtually identical melody on top of a chord sequence that is almost exactly the same as well. Furthermore, even if you give Coldplay the benefit of the doubt that this was unintentional, it doesn’t matter. Satriani still owns the copyright to the intellectual property that was employed in Viva La Vida. Ignorance is not an excuse. If Coldplay is smart, they will try to settle this out of court.
One comment about the video – I watched this several days ago and while he hits on a some correct points, he makes some false assertions too. He suggests that rhythm, tempo and chord progression can be considered with regards to copyright and that’s not true. If it were, no one could write any new music. These elements don’t hurt as support for the actual claim with regards to the melody, but the melody is the important part here and he doesn’t even deal with that. In fact, he brushes it aside. That is the whole basis for the claim. He does explain the harmonic content so I’m not taking issue with the music, but he’s obviously no lawyer.