Bruno Mars may be etched in the upper echelon of the charts with new single ’24k Magic,’ but he’s being haunted on Halloween by a lawsuit.
Full story below…
According to TMZ, Mars and Mark Ronson are amongst a long list of names on a lawsuit pertaining to their 2014 smash ‘Uptown Funk.’
80’s band Collage claim the rhythm, harmony, melody, and structure of their 1983 song ‘Young Girls’ was borrowed by all involved with ‘Funk.’
Their suit goes on to highlight that Mars and Ronson are fans of the Minneapolis/1980s electro-funk soul sound. Hence, they allege, the pair are more than likely to have heard and copied their song.
Only one member of Collage is alive, but he’s undeterred in making a beeline for a piece of the huge pie that is ‘Funk’s profits.
Easily Mars and Ronson’s biggest song to date, the song has sold than 6.1 million copies; it’s the 2nd-longest #1 hit single in Billboard history, and makes the label alone a reported $100k a week via Spotify streams.
The suit comes after Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were successfully sued by the family of Marvin Gaye for exactly the same in a landmark case over ‘Blurred Lines.’
Take a listen to both songs and let us know what you think!
The family of artist of the past aren’t playing around with these cats. The song actually took from MJ’s Jam, That Slide Chase The Cat and another song I can’t think of. And 24K Magic sounds like 2Pac’s Pat’s Life.
OMG yes Mark, the legends are not up for the bs. I swear when I heard Uptown Funk for the first time I was hearing MJ, Prince, James Brown, Gap Band, SOS band ect. Bruno new single sounds like Rick James and other 80s icons.
There’s this band called One Way that had a string of funk hits, most notably “Cutie Pie.” A part of the beat & hi hat on that cut was undoubtedly sampled on Bruno’s 24k Magic. Last I checked the sample wasn’t cleared so do expect another subpoena once it makes bank like Uptown did. Not to mention Chunky sounds like 3 or 4 songs off MJ’s Thriller album. Now Bruno I like you bruh but you a big biter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KML0NxxGe-k
I was wondering how long it would take for them to be sued over this song. It is very Prince mid 80’s/Janet Jackson “Control”-era. His new single gives me Jam/Lewis vibes too.
No one is original now days, Just look at Hollywood films. All Remakes! Everyone is borrowing bits and pieces from the past. Nobody is being innovative anymore. Where are the artists of the future that we thought about would come in 1990’s….. Non Existent.
It’s not about rather it’s original or not. Hip Hop art form is sampling from funk music. All they had to do was get the sample cleared. This whole song is made up from samples. They try to have that trow back sound, but you can’t really do that without taking from something that already been done. Blurr Lines set up a sh!t storm when they had to pay up.
I love Bruno, But he needs to be clocked as well
While it definitely sounds like Mark and Bruno were inspired by the track, as both tracks have the same guitar line, each song’s total composition sounds different. Uptown Funk draws so many more elements than what “Young Girls” brings. Also, I find the timing of the filing of this lawsuit to be very convenient for some other artists who have some fourth quarter releases. We’ll see if Collage as a case in court…
Of course the composition would be different! They obviously didn’t want it to sound exactly the same as the original??
These artists need to start being innovative again instead of borrowing so much damn. Artists back then borrowed and used samples too yes but not this bad. All the huge hits of the past five years have been rips. The two biggest are blurred lines and uptown funk.
Stfu, you fisting f**.
We need artist like Prince! I also miss when there were black bands–Earth Wind and Fire, Sly and the family stone….ect. Very frustrating to keep hearing ‘computer beats’….and I am just in my 20’s and feel this way…, 🙁
But those type of innovative artists flop nowadays. Look at Janelle Monae. It´s sad. But standards are low in general.
Janelle Monet is a try hard, pretentious d***.
As a fan of Mars, I find this very disappointing.
Now I consider myself a serious 80’s funk head and I never peeped that band before. Probably not even remotely successful. On the real, Ronson knew what he was doing with Uptown. I don’t blame the karma because this kind of black music was banned by racist mainstream radio so a lot never broke out. But honestly the Collage influence in this track is hella subtle compared to Morris Day & The Time, Gap Band, Cameo, etc so this lawsuit is quite the reach.
Preach
Yep, that’s a 21 sec sample. Mark is going to pay up. I wonder will Sony sue, because those are the same horns from Jam.
The guitar chords are similar….if not identical–even the strum pattern…. :/
Copyrights is the worse s*** ever.
Yall dont know how the universe work. You dont own your creativity. It comes from the divine and it’s not your property. When it’s out its out for everybody to experience and re-do if they want to.
To that I’ll add, sounds are eternal and do not belong in a particular date.
That has nothing to do with getting things cleared though I respect your little epiphany.
What is it that you don’t understand in no one OWNS creation. Therefore aint s*** to be cleared.
The only thing they might be entitled to monetize is the very original song itself, not a re-do.
Peace and love.
I think Uptown Funk borrows a lot from a Michael Jackson more than this one. I also heard elements of One Way – Cutie Pie in the song too. They also sampled Zapp & Roger – “More Bounce To the Ounce”.
Bruno’s latest song has flopped
Like Beyonce’s last 10 singles
The intro is near exactly the same.
I feel like the similarities here are too subtle. Uptown funk literally sounds like every other song during that era. I don’t think they are successfully win this case because the formats are so different. Now blurred lines are blatant, there were no excuse there. Also Ed Sheraton loving you till 70 blatantly sounds like Let’s get it on, so the Gay family will be banking again.
A Beyonce tea
Bruno Mars is talented, but his music is so corny and cheesy.
Wow
This one even sound much closer than robin thick/marvin gaye
but i knew that the robin Thick case was opening a can of worm.