Eurovision Song Copy Scandal
posted by Frank Pasquale
Germany is abuzz over accusations that its 2013 Eurovision nominee, Cascada, copied the song of 2012′s winner, Loreen. (Cascada’s Glorious is here; Loreen’s Euphoria is here.) Here’s Der Spiegel’s report:
Phonetician Tina John confirmed the plagiarism claims. “‘Glorious’ is a copy of ‘Euphoria’ with subtle stylistic differences,” she said. In terms of beat, vocals and pauses, the songs are very similar. “The vocals at the start are completely identical,” she adds. “The refrain uses the same emphasis and works up to a climax in an identical way. The singer even uses the same breathing style.”
I don’t know the European case law on proving copying, but it seems to me that the motivation of Cascada’s critics here may be less about giving full credit to Loreen’s genius than it is to discredit an entire genre of music. The homeland of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms has always had an uneasy relationship with Europop. (For example, despite her Eurovision victory in 2010, I don’t expect Lena to be welcomed to Walhalla any time soon.) Just as rock purists pounced on Nickelback’s “self plagiarism,” the guardians of Teutonic high culture seem eager to banish Cascada from the firmament of musical stars.
X-Posted: Madisonian.
February 18, 2013 at 1:00 pm
Posted in: Culture, Intellectual Property
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Responses (4)
Bruce Boyden - February 18, 2013 at 2:34 pm
The views of such critics are caviar to the general public — and Loreen’s and Cascada’s compositions are not caviar.
A.J. Sutter - February 19, 2013 at 8:15 am
According to commentators on YouTube, Cascada’s arrangement also copies from a song by Swedish House Mafia. Wisely, though Cascada’s lead singer didn’t copy Loreen’s dance moves, or she’d have fallen off her pedestal pretty early into it.
Frank Pasquale - February 19, 2013 at 8:46 am
Caviar emptor! And glad you mentioned the dance moves, AJ…yet another instance of pop music controversy: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/oct/10/beyonce-dance-moves-new-video
john chung - February 19, 2013 at 1:02 pm
this just adds to the appeal of eurovision. part of the fun is knowing that the voting is political, and being in on it (by political, I mean that voting is along regional lines–the baltic countries vote for each other, the slavic countries, etc.; after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the UK received the lowest number of votes because of Blair’s support of Bush).
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