Names and faces
Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke crossed the line in recording the biggest hit song of 2013 by borrowing too much from the
late Marvin Gaye and were ordered by a jury to give up $7.4 million in compensation. Williams and Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” was too similar to Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up,” jurors in Los Angeles found Tuesday. The “Blurred Lines” music video, including the original version featuring topless models, has been watched more than 250 million times on YouTube and Vevo, according to a November 2013 filing by Frankie Christian Gaye and Nona Marvisa Gaye, children of the legendary rhythm and blues artist who died in 1984. “We’re very happy with the verdict,” Paul Philips, the lawyer for Marvin Gaye III, said in a phone interview. “This has been a very long, hard-fought, and at times emotional battle.” Williams and Thicke, who composed, produced and performed the song, sued first in August 2013, seeking a court ruling that their song didn’t infringe Gaye’s 1977 hit. They said their intent was to “evoke an era” and that “Blurred Lines” was starkly different from Gaye’s song. “We are extremely disappointed in the ruling made today, which sets a horrible precedent for music and creativity going forward,” Howard King, a lawyer for Williams and Thicke, said in a statement Tuesday. “Pharrell created ‘Blurred Lines’ from his heart, mind and soul and the song was not taken from anyone or anywhere else.”
Iggy Azalea’s spring tour, which was scheduled to start next month, has been postponed until the fall “due to tour production delays,” according to a statement Tuesday. Aza le a ’ s “Great Escape Tour,” one of the highest-profile pop tours of the season, was to begin April 14 in Fresno, Calif., and continue through May. Now it has been moved to September, with its routing schedule slightly changed. It will open Sept. 18 in San Diego and end Oct. 27 in Glendale, Ariz. The postponement comes as Azalea, an Australian-born rapper, has apparently ceded control of her social media accounts to her handlers. Azalea was nominated for four Grammy Awards last month and had one of the biggest hits of last year with “Fancy,” but she also has clashed with U.S. rappers like Azealia Banks over issues of race in hiphop.