Musical “magpie” Ed Sheeran in court over Shape Of You song theft claims

Announced last week, the two-hour benefit show will air March 29 on ITV in aid of the Disasters Emergency Committee‘s (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.After hearing of the concert’s announcement, the members of Antytila – who are currently fighting the Russians in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv – sent a video message to Ed Sheeran via Facebook to ask to play the concert remotely from their home country.The ‘Bad Habits’ hitmaker responded by telling the band: “I just watched your video this morning, thank you so much for sending it. Firstly I just wanted to say to all Ukrainians, I love you, I stand with you and I’m so proud to be playing this fundraising event next week.”However, Antytila have now been told they will not be permitted to perform as part of the benefit, with organisers explaining that the event must avoid association with the military.“Because we are standing with guns and helmets, we are soldiers, and this concert is not for soldiers but for helping civilian people,” singer Taras Topolya said in a video posted to social media.The singer said the band accepted the stance taken by the concert: “First of all we are musicians, helmets and body armour are temporary, but we understand the answer and we accept it.”He added: “The main thing is the people of the United Kingdom must stand with Ukraine.”@antytila_offic’s response “First of all, we’re musicians.

It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday — especially when it’s New Music Friday! We’re breaking down this week’s best new tracks to keep on your radar.

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 has finally revealed the exciting new releases he has up his sleeve.According to the English singer, an unexpected meet-up with J Balvin led to his latest project, even learning Spanish to fully immerse himself into the musical experience. So I want to share something with you that I’ve been working on. I met @JBALVIN in a gym in New York last year.It was just me and him very early in the morning.

Ed Sheeran, The Chemical Brothers and more have donated to a series of exclusive prize draws for the DEC's Ukraine appeal. The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is holding a number of draws with prizes ranging from special meet and greets to VIP concert tickets to benefit the organisation's Ukraine humanitarian aid appeal.

Ed Sheeran has announced the Australia and New Zealand leg of his ‘+ – = ÷ x Tour’ – find tickets here.The singer-songwriter will embark on the run of dates in February 2023 in support of his most recent studio album, ‘=’, which came out last October. It’ll mark his first trip Down Under since the record-breaking ‘÷’ tour in 2018.Sheeran will kick off the stadium stint in Wellington, NZ on February 2 before making stop-offs in Auckland (February 10), Brisbane (17), Sydney (24), Melbourne (March 2), Adelaide (7) and Perth (12).Tickets go on general sale next Wednesday (March 23), with a pre-sale due to go live on Monday (March 21).

Radio 1 has announced the line-up for this year’s Big Weekend festival, which will take place in Coventry in May. Headlining the first physical edition of the event since 2019 – thanks to the pandemic – will be Mr Ed Sheeran himself.“I can’t wait to kick off festival season and perform in front of a live audience at Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2022 in Coventry”, says Sheeran, covering all the facts as efficiently as possible.If you’re wondering what a less efficient version of that statement would look like, here’s Head Of Radio 1 Aled Haydn Jones: “We are kicking off the UK’s festival season in true Radio 1 style with an incredible line-up of acts already on the bill, and more exciting names to be revealed this week.

World renowned singer Ed Sheeran has been relying on the support of his wife Cherry Seaborn amid his "disturbing and stressful" court case, which has seen him accused of copying music from other artists, a source has revealed. Ross O' Donoghue and Sami Chokri (who goes by the grime artist name Sami Switch) have alleged that Ed's 2017 'Shape of You' from his bestselling album ÷ ("Divide") used snippets from their own song 'Oh Why', and filed an official legal complaint back in 2018.

Ed Sheeran has denied claims that he “borrowed” parts of his hit 2017 track Shape Of You from other lesser-known artists. Shape Of You was at number one in the UK for 14 weeks at the time of its release. Songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue have alleged that the track uses snippets from their song Oh Why, and filed a legal complaint in 2018.The duo claim the “Oh I” hook is “strikingly similar” to that in their original track, which was released in 2015.

Ed Sheeran said in the high court yesterday that – while he is influenced by other songs when writing his own music – he is not a “magpie” that routinely lifts elements of those existing songs without permission. And where one of his songs does arguably share a musical element with an existing work, he goes out of his way to clear and credit the original.Meanwhile, he settled an earlier song-theft lawsuit over his song ‘Photograph’ out of court not because he thought he was liable for copyright infringement, but because he was advised it was the easiest way to move beyond that particular dispute.All of this was said as the musician gave testimony as part of the song-theft legal battle in the UK courts over his song ‘Shape Of You’.

Today, Dave's surprise new single Starlight tops the UK's Official Trending Chart, the Official Charts Company can reveal.

Camila Cabello has released her new collaboration with Ed Sheeran – you can listen to ‘Bam Bam’ below.First announced last month, the singer/songwriter then shared a snippet of the track earlier this week (February 28).Cabello has now released ‘Bam Bam’, which was produced by Ricky Reed, Edgar Barrera and Cheche Alara and written by Cabello, Sheeran and Reed.The track is Cabello’s first new music release of 2022 and is the latest preview of her forthcoming new album ‘Familia’, which is set for release on April 8.The video for ‘Bam Bam’ has also been released this afternoon (March 4), which was directed by Mia Barnes in collaboration with Dave Meyers – you can watch the colourful clip below.Speaking to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe this week, Cabello said of ‘Bam Bam’: “I wanted to make a song that had English words, but gives me that same feeling that a lot of these Latin songs give us. And so basically, we had this version of the song.“By the time that Ed [Sheeran] had heard it and been on board to do it, I was in a different place in my life.

Camila Cabello and Ed Sheeran have released their new song “Bam Bam” and you can listen here!

Kelly Clarkson has debuted a rock cover of Ed Sheeran’s pop hit ‘Shivers’ on the ‘Kellyoke’ segment of her TV show.Clarkson has made it customary to perform a cover version of a song requested by her audience to open The Kelly Clarkson Show. For the March 1 edition of the show, the Grammy winner took on Sheeran’s acoustic-guitar led tune, giving it a rock facelift with driving guitars and flashing red lights.Watch Kelly Clarkson perform her version of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shivers’ below.Clarkson has previously covered Sharon Van Etten’s ‘The End Of The World’, Pixies’ ‘Where Is My Mind’, My Chemical Romance’s ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’, and Radiohead’s ‘Karma Police’ among others for the segment, most recently delivering a moving cover of George Michael’s ‘Faith’.

Mark Sutherland February in the U.K. music industry is traditionally dominated by the BRIT Awards, and this year the ceremony returned to its customary slot, having been forced to move to May in 2021 by the pandemic.But, despite resuming its rightful place in the calendar with a star-studded line-up including Adele, Ed Sheeran and Liam Gallagher, the event posted its lowest-ever TV ratings with 2.7 million tuning in, down from 2.9m last year.However, bosses won’t be too concerned because, as in the U.S., TV ratings only tell part of the story: The ceremony also reported record digital engagement under chairman Tom March’s multi-platform plan.

In a close week which saw new entries from Bad Boy Chiller Crew and Sea Power vying for Number 1, Ed Sheeran reclaims the top spot with = (Equals), as Bad Boy Chiller Crew boast this week’s highest new entry with Disrespectful. 

Sea Power could be heading for their first Number 1 album with Everything Was Forever, as they lead a very close Top 5 on the Official Albums Chart Update.

Jamal Edwards’ final Instagram post was a tribute to friend Ed Sheeran on his birthday, referring to the singer as a “brother”. Music pioneer Jamal, who was the founder of music platform SBTV, passed away at the age of 31 on Sunday following a “sudden illness”.The entrepreneur founded the SBTV platform on YouTube in 2006 when he was just 15 and supported artists such as Dave, Stormzy, Jessie J and Ed Sheeran before they became mega-stars.

Yungblud, Liam Gallagher and Ed Sheeran are among the line-up for Teenage Cancer Trust’s annual gig series at London’s Royal Albert Hall next month.A host of acts, also including Don Broco, Madness, The Who and a line-up of comedy, will play the iconic venue next month.“I’m so excited to be playin’ the Albert Hall for such an incredible and important cause,” Yungblud said of the March 23 gig in a statement.“It’s gonna be the most mental show the Albert Hall has seen in 150 years, if you think you disagree – come and find out for yourself, I dare ya!”Tickets for the shows go on sale on Friday (February 25) at 9am GMT here. See the full schedule below.MARCH 202221 – Don Broco22 – An Evening of Comedy hosted by Joel Dommett with special guests Tom Allen, Rob Beckett, Rosie Jones, Romesh Ranganathan, Suzi Ruffell and Seann Walsh23 – Yungblud24 – Madness25 – The Who (acoustic)26 – Liam Gallagher27 – Ed SheeranThe gigs will be the first Teenage Cancer Trust shows in three years, after the 2020 edition was due to fall on the first day of the UK’s very first COVID lockdown, and 2021’s edition also fell foul to continued pandemic restrictions.Speaking of the series’ return, TCT Honorary Patron and gig mastermind Roger Daltrey said: “Live music has been hit hard by the pandemic and it has been particularly frustrating for me that we haven’t been able to get artists on stage to raise money for this vitally important cause.“But we haven’t given up.