It seems like another case of music industry greed takes over yet again. Miley Cyrus now heads to court over accusations she's copying one of her pop contemporaries Bruno Mars.
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Recently, Tempo Music Investments sues Miley Cyrus for 'striking similarities' in smash hit song Flowers to Bruno Mars' When I Was Your Man. Fittingly, the investment company owns a share in the copyright of Bruno's hit record. They argue that Miley and her song Flowers doesn't reach its peak successes on the Billboard Hot 100 charts without When I Was Your Man.
Does Tempo Music Investments Have a Real Case Against Miley Cyrus?
Tempo Music Investments argues Miley Cyrus and her creative team essentially copies Bruno's hit song outright. Moreover, they break down various musical intricacies to highlight their argument further. "Flowers duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements of When I Was Your Man," they claim. "Including the melodic pitch design and sequence of the verse, the connecting bass-line, certain bars of the chorus, certain theatrical music elements, lyric elements, and specific chord progressions."
Do they have a real case against Miley Cyrus? The short answer is probably not. Play the songs side by side and there's nothing really there. The structures hold no bearing with one another, in tempo or otherwise. Moreover, you don't own chords or melodies. Miley and Bruno's lyrics exist far too vaguely to even suggest they're the same. These sorts of lawsuits need to be far more overt in their musical claims. Frankly, if you go back far enough in history, no lyrical theme or musical idea is ever too original. It all stems from somewhere. Miley is no exception.
Admittedly, the Blurred Lines lawsuit with Robin Thicke and Marvin Gaye's family continues to screw up copyright law to this day. Anything even vaguely sounding familiar to another song gets to recoup off of any bit of its soaring success. Unfortunately, Miley Cyrus will come to learn this firsthand, whether she beats out the lawsuit or not.
