There's been quite the furore over the past few days after singer Lana Del Rey claimed that Radiohead were suing her for Plagiarism over similarities between her song "Get Free" and their 1993 hit "Creep".
Lana seemed to start the fire herself on Sunday when she sent out this tweet:
Of course the "40" she refers to offering and the "100" that they will accept are the percentage of royalties for the song. So it would seem as if Radiohead, or at least their lawyers, have taken a hard line stance against Del Rey. But the tale has taken another twist again today with Radiohead denying that they are suing the Summertime Sadness singer. Radiohead's lawyers released the following statement on the matter:
As Radiohead’s music publisher, it’s true that we’ve been in discussions since August of last year with Lana Del Rey’s representatives. It’s clear that the verses of “Get Free” use musical elements found in the verses of “Creep” and we’ve requested that this be acknowledged in favour of all writers of “Creep.” To set the record straight, no lawsuit has been issued and Radiohead have not said they “will only accept 100%” of the publishing of “Get Free.
Del Rey claims that "Get Free" was her 'personal manifesto' and that 'those sentiments that I wrote, I really am going to strive for them, even if that song is not on future physical releases of the record'.
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Personally, I think the songs are identical, particularly in the chord progression but take a listen for yourselves and let us know what you think.
However, there is another hugely ironic twist in this story. This is not the first time that Radiohead's "Creep" has been at the centre of a "copy-cat" controversy. Previously Radiohead were sued by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood of the band "The Hollies" for similarities between "Creep" and their song "The Air That I Breathe" and Radiohead lost!
Apparently the two parties reached an out of court settlement and Hammond and Hazelwood are now credited as co-writers on "Creep".
Maybe Radiohead need the extra few quid from Lana Del Rey to offshoot having to pay the Hollies all that money years ago?
