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Creative coincidence or plagiarism? A lawyer explains the case of Shakira and the Venezuelan singer Briella

2023-01-14T17:15:28.716Z


Shakira's new song with Bizarrap generated all kinds of debates that reached the legal ground: was there plagiarism or not?


The forceful message of the new song by Shakira and Bizarrap 1:08

(CNN Spanish) -

 Shakira's new song with Argentine producer Bizarrap, "Bzrp Music Session #53", generated all kinds of debates.

From the most passionate about whether or not Shakira should be venting her spite in a song to the legal field: was there plagiarism of a melody in the song or not?

This is a common exercise for social media… and for fans.

Look for possible similarities —or references— in songs.

And Shakira does not escape from that.

In fact, there are known instances for the Colombian singer, such as the famous trumpet in Jerry Rivera's “Amores como el nuestro” in Shakira's “Hips Don't Lie” —used legally—, or the song “Loca” in in which a court ruling first determined that there had been a violation of copyright, but later the courts reversed that ruling, considering that the plaintiff had lied to the court and falsified the content of a cassette that he presented as proof of his authorship.

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Shakira and Briella: the similarities in a melody

Due to the precedents, the networks took on the task of digging into the musical corners and found what they say is a sound similarity with a song “Solo tú”, by the young Venezuelan singer-songwriter Briella, released six months ago.

The guesses of the fans came directly to the singer, who on social networks asked her followers for their opinion.

Does Shakira's session look like my song “Solo tú”??

🥺 I don't believe it

— Briella (@briellamusic) January 12, 2023

Some of his followers told him that it was plagiarism, but opting for that legal judgment could be very hasty.

CNN has reached out to Shakira's and Bizarrap's record labels for comment on these allegations and has not received a response.

We also requested an interview with the singer Briella to find out her position and we await her response.

The lawyer Santiago Sanmiguel Garcés, specialist in entertainment law and professor at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, explains that it could be a creative coincidence.

"In this case, with everything that is happening suddenly, I think it is a discussion of creative coincidence that also happens," Sanmiguel tells Zona Pop CNN.

The attorney, who also hosts the Dr. Rocks podcast, where he discusses entertainment law issues, explains that creative overlaps are common in music, and even more so in specific genres.

“[It happens] when within a musical genre many artists start doing more or less the same things and start making the same creative decisions, even though they are independent and are not influencing each other directly,” he explains.

Lawyer Pierre Hachar, recognized by Billboard as one of the "2022 Top Music Lawyers" shared a similar opinion on his Instagram account.

Through a video, Hachar analyzes the case and talks about the similarity of melodies in songs and how this is seen in court.

“Many times there are melodies so similar that are used so often that they are not considered original because they are so obvious to the consumer and the ear.

And that's a defense that often comes up in court where they say 'OK, they're similar, but there are a lot of songs that use the same melody because it's so generic and they use it so much that it's impossible for it to be something original,'” says Hachar in the post.

The other melodic antecedents

In the case of Briella, the singer says in a reel shared on her Instagram account "I really think Shakira was inspired by my song 'Solo tú' to do her

Bzrp session

."

The singer went on to share the parts of both songs where, according to her followers, there are melodic similarities.

But, in the exercise of social networks of scratching until finding matches, it was determined that there are two songs (at least the ones that are known, there could be others) that have a melody very similar to the one presented in the choruses of the songs. Shakira and Briella.

According to Sanmiguel, his own followers sent him two songs, one that dates back almost 13 years, in which the melody is very similar.

The songs are:

“Dangerous in Love” (2021) by the female k-pop group, Secret Number:

And “Rocketeer” (2010) by the American band Far East Movement with Ryan Tedder, lead singer of One Republic:

"An example within this same song, she does the

you

[of the chorus] and she says this came out in June [of 2022} and the next

you

is cut and someone says but it's that Bizarrap did that, Bizarrap also does that," he says San Miguel.

What is plagiarism in music?

As in other fields, the definition of plagiarism is similar in music, which is to claim someone else's original work as your own and reproduce it as it originally came out.

“When someone takes a song one by one and also says 'no, I did it, it came from my own inspiration', it's like 'No, no, no, you stole it from someone else!

That is plagiarism'.

What happens is that in music we see loans and rents of many types all the time and we confuse those things a bit”, says the Colombian lawyer.

Among these examples of "musical borrowing" are interpolation, which is taking (with permission) part of a song and incorporating it into another work, and

sample

, a term widely used within the urban genre, and this "is when you take a piece of a song that is not only the composition, but also how it is recorded and you repeat it several times in a song and add another on top of it”, says Sanmiguel.

“Going back to Shakira and Bizarrap, here one sees the two songs and says 'OK, it's not a

sample

, they're each singing their own, could it be plagiarism?

I don't know... But when we already see so many, many, many similar examples in similar genres, it could be a creative coincidence”, explains the lawyer.

No legal action is known to exist in this case.

The Venezuelan singer said in the reel that "I don't do this video with the intention of looking for trouble, I'm a lifelong fan of Shakira, I'm a fan of Biza's work and I'm really in shock, I don't know what to do."

Shakira was successful in a lawsuit against her in 2019 for "The Bicycle".

How is plagiarism verified in a lawsuit?

In the case of what constitutes a plagiarism of a song, it goes beyond the "metric" that some indicate of a certain number of bars.

According to Sanmiguel, “that is not an indicator of anything.

There can be a plagiarism with a single bar like the central theme of

Jaws

by John Williams, but with a single bar and a shark next to it you can identify that this is his work.

Let's say that's a rule that producers and musicians and people in the industry say so that they have an objective way of approaching it but it's not that simple.

In the case of a lawsuit, to determine whether or not there was plagiarism, lawyers look to expert witnesses.

“They are asked to make a case of whether these songs are similar or not, and an analysis is made of all its elements, the instrumentation, how it is built, what musical genre we are talking about, where in the song it was used. What is this similar to and what role does it play or what elements does it play with it?

Literally the sheet music for the melody, here this is in full note and it lasts as long, it matches or it doesn't match.

And let's say that it is not a single thing that defines whether it is the same or not, but rather a set of things that defines whether it is the same or not," said Sanmiguel.

For Hachar, additional elements would also have to be studied to reach a conclusion.

“I see other videos with other songs using similar melodies.

I'm not saying it's pointless, I'm not saying it's pointless.

You can make your own opinions because there is a lot of information that I don't have, because I haven't talked to Briella, or Shakira, or the producers and composers.

They are similar, in my opinion, they are obviously similar, but there is a lot more behind that similarity that one has to analyze as a lawyer in order to bring a copyright infringement case,” Hachar said.

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Source: cnnespanol

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