Led Zeppelin Got sued for Stairway to heaven

[yahoo]

Like WTF after all these years? sounds like BS.

But after listening to the intro of Taurus Spirit, it does sound similar.

Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’ Copyright Case Could Result In Reallocated Royalties

http://www.inquisitr.com/3223930/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-copyright-case-could-result-in-reallocated-royalties/

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch/v/xd8AVbwB_6E" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/watch/v/xd8AVbwB_6E</a>

[|iR|Focalor]

Kinda surprised it took so long. Not really a fan of Spirit that much, but my dad loved them, so I had to listen to them occasionally growing up. Thought it was always strange how the songs sounded so alike. Maybe not the only time Zeppelin ever borrowed things from other bands. Immigrant Song sounds an awful lot like Ride In the Sky by a relatively little known band called Lucifer's Friend.

[yahoo]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3657159/Led-Zeppelin-happy-Stairway-origin-question-settled.html

Ye verdict is out.

Just exactly my point. Why did it took decades before you file a case? I bet someone wanna make some money.

[|iR|Focalor]

Meh, I still say Jimmy Page borrowed it, even if it wasn't entirely his intention to be an asshole and blatantly rip it off. Maybe he heard it and forgot where he heard it, and decided to use it. Pretty sure the two bands played shows together after Spirit wrote their song and before Led Zeppelin began writing material for Led Zep 4.

I have some songs I've recorded at home myself that I've "written" which have parts in one or two of them that I've ripped off from other known bands like Morbid Angel. If I ever actually wanted to professionally record and release those songs, I'm pretty sure there's no way I could copyright them without removing those riffs.

[QwazyWabbit]

My brother was a music major and is in a band. His opinion was that everything's been written and it's all just "sampling" now.

For example, Blues Traveler's "Hook" is deliberately based on the progression in Pachelbel's "Canon in D" and it's that very melody that is the hook in "Hook".

The baseline of the chord progression in Taurus and Stairway is formulaic and fundamental and very old, that they both used it is a coincidence. It's entirely possible that Page heard it in Taurus and doesn't remember it but the burden of proof on the origin of the idea is on the plaintiff. In both cases, I think it can be said that they both got it from a prior source and that source is unknown.

They took a shot, they lost.

[yahoo]

Can be and its a huge possibility. The thing is either he copied or not, why just now?

Also, the way i see it its like a set of numbers in a betting game, you and some other guy may have exactly the same numbers however his combination happens to match the winning combination.  The public likes the led zep version as compared to the other.

[yahoo]

My brother was a music major and is in a band. His opinion was that everything's been written and it's all just "sampling" now.

For example, Blues Traveler's "Hook" is deliberately based on the progression in Pachelbel's "Canon in D" and it's that very melody that is the hook in "Hook".

The baseline of the chord progression in Taurus and Stairway is formulaic and fundamental and very old, that they both used it is a coincidence. It's entirely possible that Page heard it in Taurus and doesn't remember it but the burden of proof on the origin of the idea is on the plaintiff. In both cases, I think it can be said that they both got it from a prior source and that source is unknown.

They took a shot, they lost.

Can be too. Like how many songs have the same chord progression but only differs in the speed or pitch.

[Zeppelin]

Led Zeppelin Win in 'Stairway to Heaven' Trial

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/led-zeppelin-prevail-in-stairway-to-heaven-lawsuit-20160623

[|iR|Focalor]

It's not just happenstance in my opinion. Those two bands played shows together, and at the time when they did, Spirit definitely would've played that song at the show. Jimmy Page can't truthfully say that he never heard that particular song before writing Stairway to Heaven. I can't blame him for fighting it out in court to keep his money. I'd do the same thing. But I'm pretty sure that if he would've lost and had to pay anything, in his own mind (cuz he'd never admit such a theft to a living soul) he wouldn't have been calling it a total injustice.

I'm just kinda surprised it took THIS LONG to bring it to court. Like I said, even as a kid I kinda thought it was probably more than coincidental that those songs sounded so alike. They couldn't have NOT heard the same thing until just recently. Maybe it took them this long to get enough money pooled up to afford to take it to court. I guess if they would've gone after it on the cheap, either Led Zeppelins attournies would've settled for 2% of the potential award they could've gotten for winning, or they would've simply gone ahead to trial and outspent them with experts to back their defense. So, yeah, they took a shot and lost, but I can't see the surviving members of Spirit bothering with such an expensive task in the first place unless they knew they were right. Sucks for them. They should've been more famous I guess.

[QwazyWabbit]

It's not just happenstance in my opinion. Those two bands played shows together, and at the time when they did, Spirit definitely would've played that song at the show. Jimmy Page can't truthfully say that he never heard that particular song before writing Stairway to Heaven. I can't blame him for fighting it out in court to keep his money. I'd do the same thing. But I'm pretty sure that if he would've lost and had to pay anything, in his own mind (cuz he'd never admit such a theft to a living soul) he wouldn't have been calling it a total injustice.

I'm just kinda surprised it took THIS LONG to bring it to court. Like I said, even as a kid I kinda thought it was probably more than coincidental that those songs sounded so alike. They couldn't have NOT heard the same thing until just recently. Maybe it took them this long to get enough money pooled up to afford to take it to court. I guess if they would've gone after it on the cheap, either Led Zeppelins attournies would've settled for 2% of the potential award they could've gotten for winning, or they would've simply gone ahead to trial and outspent them with experts to back their defense. So, yeah, they took a shot and lost, but I can't see the surviving members of Spirit bothering with such an expensive task in the first place unless they knew they were right. Sucks for them. They should've been more famous I guess.

It wasn't the surviving members who chose to litigate it. It was the trustee for the estate of Randy Wolfe, Michael Skidmore who brought the case. As trustee, he has a fiduciary responsibility to preserve the properties and copyrights and if not defended a copyright is useless. I don't know if the son derives any benefit from the trust. I hope so. Now Skidmore has to answer for the expenses and justify his actions.

Per Rolling Stone:
"The jury was not legally allowed to hear the original recordings of "Stairway to Heaven" and "Taurus" in determining their verdict. Instead, they heard an expert perform both songs based on the original sheet music."