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Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
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Apr 11, 2006
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I don't see the guys family winning the suit. The Spirit song has no vocal melody and Stairway does. There is also more parts to Stairway then the similar beginning.
Do you remember Vanilla ice. Uh, yeah. Small but important sampling.

"Vanilla Ice vs Queen & Bowie

Vanilla Ice became a household word for a while, not because of his talent, but because of the copyright infringement that occured in 1990 when it came to light that he had sampled Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” without consent or license. Ice Ice Baby hit number one on the charts in the United States and Vanilla Ice became the one ‘under pressure’. Vanilla Ice altered the rhythm of the baseline thinking he would thereby avoid any question of credit, royalties, license or even permission. This case never went to court as it was clear that Vanilla Ice had stolen the sample without permission. He settled out of court with Queen and David Bowie for an undisclosed but very likely very high amount. Ice Ice Baby has been released in many different versions, since then, with all of the legal procedures followed."

 
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swiftdog2.0

I tell you one and one makes three...
Mar 16, 2010
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Do you remember Vanilla ice. Uh, yeah. Small but important sampling.

"Vanilla Ice vs Queen & Bowie

Vanilla Ice became a household word for a while, not because of his talent, but because of the copyright infringement that occured in 1990 when it came to light that he had sampled Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” without consent or license. Ice Ice Baby hit number one on the charts in the United States and Vanilla Ice became the one ‘under pressure’. Vanilla Ice altered the rhythm of the baseline thinking he would thereby avoid any question of credit, royalties, license or even permission. This case never went to court as it was clear that Vanilla Ice had stolen the sample without permission. He settled out of court with Queen and David Bowie for an undisclosed but very likely very high amount. Ice Ice Baby has been released in many different versions, since then, with all of the legal procedures followed."


Exactly my point.

The Vanilla Ice thing used an unauthorized sample. A sample is a piece of the actual recording of the original artist. And the Queen baseline was pretty much the entire song.

That's not the case with the Spirit song. Sampling wasn't around in those days. I'm not saying that the recordings don't sound similar. They do. They're are just too many differences between versions for this guys estate to win the lawsuit.

I'm curious as to why they estate waited until now to file the suit. Stairway is older than me for crying out loud. If it was such an issue for the guy you'd think he would have filed the suit when the song was first released in 1971.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
Exactly my point.

The Vanilla Ice thing used an unauthorized sample. A sample is a piece of the actual recording of the original artist. And the Queen baseline was pretty much the entire song.

That's not the case with the Spirit song. Sampling wasn't around in those days. I'm not saying that the recordings don't sound similar. They do. They're are just too many differences between versions for this guys estate to win the lawsuit.

I'm curious as to why they estate waited until now to file the suit. Stairway is older than me for crying out loud. If it was such an issue for the guy you'd think he would have filed the suit when the song was first released in 1971.
Yeah why did they wait? I'm guessing they need cash. Ice may have used the baseline for the entire song, but the two parts of the song that were used for Stairway are the most iconic pieces of music in rock.
 
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swiftdog2.0

I tell you one and one makes three...
Mar 16, 2010
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Yeah why did they wait? I'm guessing they need cash. Ice may have used the baseline for the entire song, but the two parts of the song that were used for Stairway are the most iconic pieces of music in rock.

Granted, the intros are similar, but the real strengths of Stairway are Robert Plant's vocals (and vocal melodies), Jimmy Page's guitar solo, and the dynamic shift from ballad to full out rocker. Bonham's drums alone separate the two songs.

The Spirit song doesn't have any of that.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
Granted, the intros are similar, but the real strengths of Stairway are Robert Plant's vocals (and vocal melodies), Jimmy Page's guitar solo, and the dynamic shift from ballad to full out rocker. Bonham's drums alone separate the two songs.
I can get behind that. You or pegasus keep us posted on this. I'd be really interested to see what the courts say.
 
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PatInTheHat

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Dec 19, 2007
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Lair of the Great Kentucky Nightcrawler

PatInTheHat

GOOBER MEMBER
Dec 19, 2007
13,362
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Lair of the Great Kentucky Nightcrawler
I'm scared... (had a bad experience the other day lol) is this safe to Google?
:laugh:
Yes sweety it is...hey they got a facebooky page and everything, and have smokin' live performances that are evidently next to impossible to score tickets, but they also put them on radio...check 'em out, turn your rockin' kiddo on to it, he might dig it;)