This week on The Disclaimer, WMSE's weekly panel with Ryan Schleicher, Milwaukee Record editor Matt Wild and I, we're pretending it's 2013 and talking about Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines." Actually, there's good reason for revisiting the singer's skeezy hit: This week a federal court ruled that Thicke and songwriter Pharrell Williams copies Marvin Gaye's 1977 hit "Got To Give It Up" and owed the Gaye estate $7.4 million in licensing fees. This in spite of the fact that "Blurred Lines" only "feels" like Gaye's hit, but doesn't actually lift any melodies or lyrics. Are musicians forbidden from making music that kinda-sorta "feels" like another artists' now? And if so, where does that leave music? It's a dreadful ruling. We consider music's long tradition of borrowing, and ponder what impact this may have on the music industry going forward. Then Matt ends the show by pouring some out (proverbially) for The Fortress, an artist workspace that is about to be converted into luxury apartments.
You can stream the episode below, and as always, feel free to let us know what you think. Weigh in on Facebook, and subscribe to us on iTunes.
