{"id":4684,"date":"2024-10-09T11:06:45","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T00:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanickilawyers.com.au\/?p=4684"},"modified":"2024-10-09T11:07:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T00:07:32","slug":"i-can-buy-myself-that-song-flowers-miley-cyrus-v-tempo-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanickilawyers.com.au\/i-can-buy-myself-that-song-flowers-miley-cyrus-v-tempo-music\/","title":{"rendered":"I can buy myself that song, Flowers: Miley Cyrus v Tempo Music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News broke on 17 September that Miley Cyrus\u2014former incognito pop-star for Disney Channel turned Grammy-winning solo artist\u2014is being sued. The dispute concerns similarities between Cyrus\u2019 chart-topping song Flowers<\/em> and Bruno Mars\u2019 2013 hit When I Was Your Man<\/em>. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles\u2019 federal court on 16 September by music rights investment firm Tempo Music\u2014purchasers of a share of rights in Mars\u2019 When I Was Your Man<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is involved in the suit?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The defendants named in the lawsuit include Cyrus, her co-writers on the track Gregory Hein and Michal Pollack, and a suite of high-profile music publishers. For their part, Tempo Music is a self-described \u2018investment platform for premium music rights\u2019, backed by a powerful collaboration between Warner Music Group and private equity firm Providence. Interestingly, Mars himself has virtually nothing to do with the lawsuit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did the writers of Flowers<\/em> copy When I Was Your Man<\/em>?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tempo Music claims in court documents: \u2018any fan of Bruno Mars’ \u2018When I Was Your Man’ knows that Miley Cyrus’ \u2018Flowers’ did not achieve all of that success on its own. \u2018Flowers’ duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements\u2026including 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\u2026it is undeniable based on the combination and number of similarities between the two recordings that \u2018Flowers’ would not exist without \u2018When I Was Your Man\u2019.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes this case fascinating is that there is little doubt that the writers of Flowers<\/em>\u2014Cyrus, Gregory Hein, and Michal Pollack\u2014did<\/em> intentionally reference Mars\u2019 work. The inspiration was widely reported at the time of Flowers<\/em>\u2019s release in January 2023. Flowers<\/em> paraphrases lyrics from When I Was Your Man<\/em>\u2019s chorus, and is broadly believed to be a divorce song about her split from Liam Hemsworth\u2014sources report that Hemsworth serenaded Cyrus with Mars\u2019 song several times during their ill-fated relationship, including at their wedding. Billboard even noted<\/a> the lyrical similarities in 2023, however stated that the writers of When I Was Your Man <\/em>didn\u2019t need to be credited in Flowers<\/em> as it didn\u2019t \u2018sample or interpolate any melodic elements from the song.\u2019 Esquire chimed in to add that \u2018Miley\u2019s responses to Bruno are just lyrical allusions\u2026musically, she doesn\u2019t really borrow anything else.\u2019 Cyrus has never publicly confirmed her inspirations. However, not everybody agreed that only lyrics were borrowed\u2014The Independent even incorrectly reported that \u2018the self-love anthem samples<\/em> Bruno Mars<\/a>\u2019 2012 hit \u201cWhen I Was Your Man.\u201d\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, this isn\u2019t the first time that Cyrus has landed in hot water over lyrical copyright infringement. In 2020, the artist settled a $300 million USD suit over her hit song We Can\u2019t Stop <\/em>and its similarities to the lyrics of Jamaican songwriter Michael May.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where’s the line between inspiration and copyright infringement?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While copyright law in the U.S. differs from Australia, it is likely the case will hinge on similar legal principles as can be observed in local copyright law. Mainly, the question of whether the work is substantially similar <\/strong>to Mars\u2019. Similar to Australian copyright law, permission from the copyright owner(s) is needed before someone is legally permitted to \u2018use a \u201csubstantial\u201d part of a copyright protected work.\u2019 \u2018Substantial\u2019 doesn\u2019t just mean length\u2014it refers to \u2018anything that is distinctive or essential to the work\u2019. If the parties don\u2019t reach a private settlement regarding the matter, the \u2018substantial part\u2019 test will be applied and assessed by the Court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s next?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It will be interesting to follow the case in Los Angeles\u2019 federal court as team Flowers<\/em> attempts to mount a defence to the plaintiff\u2019s claim. Having undeniably taken some<\/em> inspiration from Mars\u2019 work, even purely lyrical, will Cyrus & Co elect to settle the suit as in the dispute with Michael May? Or will they try to defend their own original artistry, and draw a line in the sand for artistic freedom? Either way, the Sanicki Blog will keep you posted as the case progresses.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News broke on 17 September that Miley Cyrus\u2014former incognito pop-star for Disney Channel turned Grammy-winning solo artist\u2014is being sued. The dispute concerns similarities between Cyrus\u2019 chart-topping song Flowers and Bruno Mars\u2019 2013 hit When I Was Your Man. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles\u2019 federal court on 16 September by music rights investment firm … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,106],"tags":[258,63,8,239,261,260,259],"class_list":{"0":"post-4684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music-entertainment","8":"category-trademarks-copyright","9":"tag-celebrity","10":"tag-copyright","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-music-law","13":"tag-recording-artist","14":"tag-sampling","15":"tag-substantially-similar","16":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nI can buy myself that song, Flowers: Miley Cyrus v Tempo Music - Sanicki Lawyers Melbourne<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I can buy myself that song, Flowers: Miley Cyrus v Tempo Music - Sanicki Lawyers Melbourne\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"News broke on 17 September that Miley Cyrus\u2014former incognito pop-star for Disney Channel turned Grammy-winning solo artist\u2014is being sued. 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