The Ed Sheeran ‘Shape of You’ verdict reveals the realities of pop songwriting in the streaming era

Ed Sheeran is putting his support behind Ukraine with his new music video for “2Step”.

New analysis from the BPI – the UK association of independent and major record labels – reveals that a record number of tracks hit eight-figure annual stream totals in 2021.

One of the UK TV industry calendar’s biggest nights, the British Soap Awards, will return this June after a two-year hiatus.

Ed Sheeran has revealed the emotional and creative cost of being taken to court over plagiarism claims, revealing he now films all of his songwriting sessions, just in case.

Ed Sheeran and his ‘Shape Of You’ collaborators yesterday issued a statement about the impact the legal battle over that song has had on their creativity and mental health after successfully defeating the copyright infringement lawsuit filed against them by grime artist Sami Chokri.Chokri claimed that ‘Shape Of You’ lifted a key element from his earlier song ‘Oh Why’, and that Sheeran’s hit therefore infringed the copyright in his work. Proving that required Chokri to demonstrate that Sheeran had heard ‘Oh Why’ before writing ‘Shape Of You’ in autumn 2016, and that he had consciously or subconsciously borrowed that key element of the earlier track for his song.The Chokri side employed two main tactics in trying to prove that Sheeran had indeed been exposed to ‘Oh Why’ prior to autumn 2016.

The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the song copied part of 2015’s “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch.Sheeran took to Twitter on Wednesday and expressed relief at his legal victory in Britain, though he decried what he called a “culture” of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial.“Whilst we’re obviously happy with the result, I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim,” Sheerhan said in a video posted on Twitter.

Ed Sheeran has emerged successful from a copyright battle that reached the U.K. High Court.

Ed Sheeran has won a copyright battle in UK court over his 2017 hit “Shape of You.”

Ed Sheeran has detailed the stress and ‘cost on [his] mental health’ caused by the Shape Of You copyright battle.  The 31-year-old singer won the High Court case on Wednesday alongside Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, also known as Steve Mac.   Two songwriters, Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, had alleged that Sheeran’s 2017 hit single infringed on ‘particular lines and phrases’ from their track, Oh Why.

Grammy Award-winning songwriter Ed Sheeran has won a U.K. copyright battle over the 2017 hit “Shape of You.”

Ed Sheeran, Steve Mac and Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid have won their High Court copyright battle over 2017 Number 1 single Shape of You.

Ed Sheeran has won his High Court copyright battle over his hit song Shape of You.The singer, who recently spoke about being supported by his wife Cherry Seaborn throughout the case, was accused of being a "magpie" who "borrows" ideas from other artists, and he denied copying other songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue and their song Oh Why, which was released in 2015. Chokri and O'Donoghue had claimed the Shape of You chorus, which 31 year old Sheeran sings out “oh I oh I oh I”, was actually stolen from their own chorus “oh why oh why oh why”. Mr Justice Zacaroli concluded Mr Sheeran "neither deliberately nor subconsciously" copied the phrase in a ruling today (April 6).

Ed Sheeran has won his copyright case at the High Court over claims that he plagiarised hit song ‘Shape Of You’ from two other writers.Sheeran along with two of his co-writers – Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and producer Steve McCutcheon – had been accused of plagiarising part of a track called ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri, who performs under the alias Sami Switch.Chokri claimed that Sheeran’s 2017 hit infringed “particular lines and phrases” of his 2015 song. He and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue further alleged that the main “Oh I” hook in ‘Shape Of You’ is “strikingly similar” to the “Oh Why” refrain in their own song.Chokri also claimed that he and Sheeran had “overlapping circles” of artists, writers and producers in common, stating that there had been a “concerted plan” to bring ‘Oh Why’ to Sheeran’s attention, were denied by Sheeran’s party.Sheeran and his co-authors, denied all allegations of copying, claiming that they don’t remember hearing ‘Oh Why’ before the claims were lodged.Now, after an 11 day trial, Justice Zacaroli ruled this morning (April 6) that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from ‘Oh Why’ when writing ‘Shape of You.’Zacaroli did acknowledge there were “similarities between the one-bar phrase” in ‘Shape Of You’ and ‘Oh Why’, but added that “such similarities are only a starting point for a possible infringement” of copyright.He went on to say there were “differences between the relevant parts” of the songs, which “provide compelling evidence that the ‘Oh I’ phrase” in ‘Shape Of You’ “originated from sources other than ‘Oh Why'”.He said there was only a “speculative foundation” that Sheeran had head Chokri’s song before writing ‘Shape of You’.

LONDON -- Grammy Award-winning songwriter Ed Sheeran has won a U.K. copyright battle over the 2017 hit “Shape of You.’’The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the 2017 song copied part of 2015's “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch.Sheeran and his co-writers said they did not remember hearing “Oh Why” before the court case.In a ruling on Wednesday, Judge Antony Zacaroli concluded that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” copied a phrase from “Oh Why″ when writing his smash hit.“Shape of You” was the biggest-selling song in the U.K.

Ed Sheeran has won a copyright lawsuit over his hit single “Shape of You.”A U.K. High Court ruled on Wednesday that Sheeran had not plagiarised the 2015 song “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri.The verdict is the culmination of a four-year legal battle between Sheeran and songwriters Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, which included a 11-day trial in London in March.

Tributes have poured in overnight for Tom Parker, who died yesterday aged just 33 following a long battle with a brain tumour. 

Ed Sheeran has led celebrity tributes to The Wanted star Tom Parker, who has died of brain cancer aged 33. On Wednesday (30 March), Parker’s death was announced by his wife Kelsey.