A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 30

This is the 14th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Because the best way to come up with a great story idea is to come up with a lot of ideas. And the best way to come up with a lot of ideas is to be proactive in sourcing story ideas.

Today’s story: Ed Sheeran is on trial, accused of borrowing from Marvin Gaye. Listen to the tracks at stake in lawsuits involving George Harrison, 2 Live Crew, Led Zeppelin and Katy Perry that may shape his case.

There’s an adage, of murky provenance, that music executives like to cite whenever another copyright infringement lawsuit lands: “Where there’s a hit, there’s a writ.”

The trial over Ed Sheeran’s Grammy-winning song “Thinking Out Loud” (2014), which began on Monday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, is the latest in a long line of music copyright suits. In the United States, it goes back to at least 1844, when a New York judge heard a case about the unauthorized reproduction of a song called “The Cot Beneath the Hill.” The plaintiff was awarded $625 in damages, according to a historical database maintained by the legal scholar Charles Cronin.

For Sheeran, the stakes are much higher. He is accused of copying passages from Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” (1973); the family of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer, filed the suit in 2017. If Sheeran is found liable, a jury will set damages, which would likely be in the millions.

Here is a guide to some of the most consequential music copyright cases in recent decades, along with excerpts from their recordings.

But remember: It can be tricky, and even misleading, to compare recordings alone. In cases like these, the only material in question are the songs’ underlying compositions: the melodies, chords and lyrics that can be notated on paper. Elements specific to the performance captured in a particular recording — like the tempo, or the timbre of an instrument — are irrelevant.

Juries must decide not only if one song copies another, but whether the earlier song was original and distinctive enough to be protected by copyright.

“The problem with cases like this is that people ask the wrong question,” said Joe Bennett, a professor at the Berklee College of Music who works as a forensic musicologist in legal cases. “They ask the question, ‘How similar is song B to song A,’ whereas what they should be asking is how original is song A.”

Got that?

I actually know some of the family members related to Randy Wolfe (a k a Randy California) who was lead guitarist, vocalist, and chief songwriter of the band Spirit. The family sued Led Zeppelin claiming copyright infringement for the Spirit song Taurus and the Zeppelin song Stairway to Heaven. Here’s a video with analysis of the case:

My story idea is simple: The Protagonist (Emmett Schleck) is a middle aged guy who, much like Llewyn Davis in the Coen brothers movie Inside Llewyn Davis, was always one step behind, beside, beneath, and beyond music stardom. In his case, it was as songwriter and leader of a band called Cave Bacon. Even though it’s been decades since the band was together, Emmett still rues how close he believed he was to music stardom. A tough pill to swallow when he appraises his dissolute life: assistant grocer story manager; twice divorced; drinks and smokes too much.

In other words, he’s one lonely, sad dude.

One day, he hears a song from the hugely successful rock bank Likker. That song is virtually the same as the heavy metal song Emmett wrote years earlier called Dumb Phuck on an obscure self-released EP. So Emmett sues Likker (think these guys):

Emmett mortgages his house and sells nearly everything he has to pay for the legal fees to take on Likker. Unfortunately, they can pay for the best lawyers in the entertainment industry and even though expert after expert testifies on behalf of Emmett, the suit is tossed.

Now Emmett is one lonely bitter dude.

What’s he going to do? Well, in a fevered, drunken rage, he vows to gain revenge against the members of the bank Likker.

What follows is a comedy: Emmett tracking down each of the band members, and one by one making their lives a living hell.

I imagine lots of big, dumb physical set pieces. Destruction of property. An R-rated variation of Home Alone only the Protagonist is the guy invading the homes of the band members and he gets over on them … big time.

That’s the setup for my 30th story idea of the month. And it’s yours. Free! What would YOU do with it?

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Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 18
Day 19
Day 20
Day 21
Day 22
Day 23
Day 24
Day 25
Day 26
Day 27
Day 28
Day 29

Each day in April, I invite you to join me in comments to do some brainstorming. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when we play around with it. These are valuable skills for a writer to develop.

See you in RESPONSES to hear YOUR take on this story idea. And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.