ITV is hosting a live concert on Tuesday night to raise money for Ukraine amid the ongoing attacks from Russia. The Concert for Ukraine is a two-hour fundraiser featuring some of the biggest names in music who will perform to a live audience.
10.03.2022 - 15:47 / completemusicupdate.com
Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid took to the stand in London’s high court yesterday in the ongoing song-theft legal battle over Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’, which he co-wrote. He mainly echoed comments already made by his musical collaborator earlier in the week, while also talking about the “culture” of dubious copyright claims in the US courts that followed the 2015 ‘Blurred Lines’ ruling, and insisting that the thought of plagiarising another artist’s work was “abhorrent”.Sheeran and his songwriting collaborators – including McDaid – are accused of ripping off the earlier track ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue when they wrote their 2017 hit.
But Sheeran et al deny having ever heard of ‘Oh Why’ before writing ‘Shape Of You’, and counter that the elements shared by the two songs are pretty commonplace in pop music.In a written statement and during yesterday’s testimony in court, McDaid – like Sheeran – again insisted that the elements shared by ‘Shape Of You’ and ‘Oh Why’ are commonplace, and therefore it’s not unlikely that they would appear in two different pop songs. Both use “sequential notes from the pentatonic scale”, he observed, but “it is a very common melodic structure, in my experience”.McDaid, like Sheeran, also took issue with the idea that past allegations of song-theft that have been made against the duo – as well as deals done with the writers of old songs that have heavily influenced their new songs – somehow suggest that he and Sheeran make a habit of nabbing musical and lyrical ideas from other artists’ work.“I have been a professional songwriter for many years and have achieved substantial success”, McDaid said in his written statement.
ITV is hosting a live concert on Tuesday night to raise money for Ukraine amid the ongoing attacks from Russia. The Concert for Ukraine is a two-hour fundraiser featuring some of the biggest names in music who will perform to a live audience.
Camila Cabello has a mini fashion show on the streets of London, England in between radio promo ahead of the weekend.
Each week, we here at Official Charts compile the best and most exciting releases of New Music Friday, to give you a chance to hear the future hits on the Official Singles and Albums Chart. Let's dive in!
An 11-day trial over the copyright of Ed Sheeran's hit song “Shape of You" concluded in London on Tuesday, with the judge saying he would take some time to consider his ruling.The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, deny accusations that the 2017 song copies part of a 2015 song called “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch.Lawyer Andrew Sutcliffe, representing the “Oh Why” co-writers, argued there was an “indisputable similarity between the works” and suggested the chances of two songs that “correlate” appearing within months of each other was “minutely small."The lawyer claimed that Sheeran had “Oh Why” “consciously or unconsciously in his head" when “Shape of You” was written in 2016. He also alleged that Sheeran, who attended the hearing throughout, was dishonest and evasive in giving evidence to the trial.Sheeran and his co-writers say they have disclosed material to the trial and do not remember hearing “Oh Why” before the court case.Justice Antony Zacaroli said Tuesday he would deliver his judgment “as soon as I can.”“Shape of You” was the biggest selling song in the U.K.
Ed Sheeran and his co-writers in the ‘Shape of You’ copyright trial has said the legal row has been “deeply traumatising” for them.Ian Mill QC described the dispute as “terribly, terribly unfortunate” at a hearing in London yesterday (March 23) and argued that the case “should never have got to trial” [via Metro].The High Court was informed of Mill’s comments as the trial is expected to conclude today (March 22) and Mr Justice Zacaroli’s judgment to follow at a later date.Grime artist Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch, is claiming that Sheeran’s 2017 hit infringes “particular lines and phrases” of his 2015 song ‘Oh Why’.
A formerly homeless singer-songwriter showed the world what happens when you don’t give up during the latest episode of “American Idol“.
Dave settles in for a second week at Number 1 in the UK with Starlight.
The ongoing song theft dispute in London’s high court over Ed Sheeran’s hit ‘Shape Of You’ got to the musicologist stage this week. Both sides in the dispute had expert musicologists analyse the similarities between Sheeran’s song and Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue’s earlier track ‘Oh Why’.
DEALSPeaceville Records has signed Sigh to release their twelfth studio album later this year. “I’ve been following Peaceville’s history from the very beginning”, says Sigh’s Mirai Kawashima.
Ed Sheeran‘s ‘Shape Of You’ is “coincidentally similar” and bears “distinctive differences” to the song the singer is accused of copying.It’s alleged that Sheeran and two of his co-writers, Johnny McDaid and Steve Mac, lifted “particular lines and phrases” for the 2017 ‘÷’ single from a track called ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Switch (real name Sam Chokri).The latter artist and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue claim that Sheeran took the “oh I, oh I, oh I, oh I” hook from the aforementioned song, which was released in 2015.
Ed Sheeran gave another emotional tribute to late friend and cricket legend Shane Warne as he appeared on Australian TV show The Project on Wednesday 16 March. Shane tragically died on 4 March aged 52 after suffering a fatal a heart attack while on a trip in Koh Samui, Thailand, fans were devastated to learn along with his family and friends.
CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Ed Sheeran’s trip to the High Court in London in a bid to defeat a song-theft lawsuit filed against him and his musical collaborators in relation to his 2017 track ‘Shape Of You’, and the return of LimeWire – not as a piece of peer-to-peer file-sharing software, but as a music NFT marketplace.
Another co-writer of the Ed Sheeran hit ‘Shape Of You’ took to the witness stand in the high court in London yesterday as the song-theft case against Sheeran and his musical collaborators continues. Producer Steve Mac – real name Steven McCutcheon – said the writing of ‘Shape Of You’ was very rapid and very collaborative.Sheeran and his songwriting collaborators – including McCutcheon – are accused of ripping off the earlier track ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue when they wrote their 2017 hit.
Ed Sheeran sang Nina Simone‘s ‘Feeling Good’ and Blackstreet‘s ‘No Diggity’ in London’s High Court yesterday (March 8) as his ongoing plagiarism court case regarding his song ‘Shape Of You’ continues.Sheeran has denied lifting the “oh I, oh I, oh I” hook in his 2017 hit single from Sami Chokri’s (AKA Sami Switch) 2015 track ‘Oh Why’. The singer has also rejected the suggestion that he heard ‘Oh Why’ before he wrote ‘Shape Of You’ in October 2016.Royalties from ‘Shape Of You’, estimated to be worth £20million, have been frozen since Chokri and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue issued a claim for “copyright infringement, damages and an account of profits in relation to the alleged infringement” in July 2018.As BBC News reports, Sheeran sang snippets of Simone’s 1965 rendition of ‘Feeling Good’ and Blackstreet’s 1996 hit ‘No Diggity’ in court yesterday in an effort to illustrate how the “oh I” melody is commonplace in pop music.
Ed Sheeran further discussed his creative process in the high court in London yesterday as the song-theft legal battle over his 2017 hit ‘Shape Of You’ continued. He also revealed how his team usually deal with songs he’s written that contain elements in common with old songs – a process that may or may not have been applied to the unreleased Sheeran track that got an unintended airing as yesterday’s court proceedings went through the motions.Sheeran and his songwriting collaborators are accused of ripping off the earlier track ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue when they wrote their 2017 hit.
Ed Sheeran arrives at a hearing at London’s High Court on Monday (March 7) in London, England.
Paul Weller has been announced as special guests for Madness‘ show at the Royal Albert Hall this month.The longstanding ska group had previously been announced to perform at the famous venue, one of a series of high-profile shows in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust this month.Now, Weller has been announced for an exclusive guest appearance which takes place on March 24. He will be joined by his band for a unique acoustic set.Madness’ gig is one of a number of shows taking place at the Albert Hall between March 21 and 27, with Don Broco, Yungblud, Liam Gallagher, The Who and Ed Sheeran also appearing.