Remember what happened over “Blurred Lines” a few years back? A similar law suit was recently issued and it involves The Script and James Arthur.
The Irish band – which comprises Daniel O’Donoghue, Mark Sheehan, Andrew Frampton and Stephen Kipner – claims that the 2016 X-Factor UK winner’s comeback single “Say You Won’t Go” is a rip off from their 2008 single “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved”.
Richard Busch, who previously represented Marvin Gaye’s estate in filing a lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, is representing The Script. According to Billboard, both “Say You Won’t Let Go” and “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” share the same 4/4 meter, have a similar tempo, four-bar guitar introduction and use similar vocal melodies as well as harmonic structures.
“It’s widely known Mr. Arthur was dropped by his record label for public controversies, which caused a break in his career. It wasn’t until the release of ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’ that he achieved worldwide success,” the attorney said in a statement.
Arthur had allegedly approach frontman O’Donoghue on a possibility of collaborating together. His request was apparently denied. Busch claims that Arthur then proceeded to copy “the essence” of “The Man Who Can Not Be Moved”.
Listen to the similarities below:
Arthur previously denied the claim. When the issue was brought up last year, the singer replied, “It’s 2017, there’s only 7 notes in music. Every blues song sounds the f**king same. People get a bit wound up about these things for no reason.”
The Script is seeking “statutory damages over the track, as well as an accounting of all streaming, distribution, publishing and touring revenue”.
Sources: Official Charts, Billboard.
