The Internet has been buzzing all spring about whether Eurovision winner Lorraine’s song Tattoo is a plagiarism of last years’ hit by Ukrainian pop singer Mika Newton.
Rising rage. A dramatic raga cycle where the fourth, sixth, first and third cycles go on endlessly. It seems like the song is left floating. That’s why Lorraine’s Eurovision winning tattoo is such an enchanting pop song for many people.
Is it Swedish quality and talent?
Don’t think anything. Besides the fact that Weiss fans are already protesting the Swedish star’s win, claiming that Weiss’ professional judges “robbed” it from Suomen Karija, the song is also considered plagiarized in internet discussions. Is.
The stolen song is V Plenu by Ukrainian Mika Newton from 2005. Newton also represented his country at Eurovision in 2011.
A video made by Polish songwriter Pawel Sutta, in which he superimposes Lauren and Newton’s songs on top of each other, has been shared online.
Listen more: Both songs have a four-bar chord that sounds disturbingly similar. Only the key and a slightly different ending differentiate the tonal progression.
At least Helsingin Sanomat and Iltalehti in Finland have reported this case.
However, Newton’s song continues in a different way. That didn’t stop social media from accusing Lorraine and her songwriting team of plagiarism.
More recently, plagiarism arguments have been made about less obvious things, such as whether songwriter Ed Sheeran stole elements from soul legend Marvin Gaye’s classic Let’s Get It On in his song Thinking Out Loud.
Read more: Ed Sheeran accused of plagiarism again
The matter was settled in court. Sheeran won. So there was no plagiarism of the song.
Lorraine’s song has only sparked social outrage so far. It hasn’t gone to waste.
Five-time winner Lorraine greets the audience at the folk festival at Kungstrådgården park in Stockholm. Photo: Anders Wicklund/AFP
Let’s ask the Finnish copyright organization Teosto for their opinion.
The organization’s journal TStory defines plagiarism as:
– To talk about plagiarism, the song has to be almost identical to the original in its essential elements. That’s why the threshold is high. Similarity isn’t enough, Jenna Vainio, secretary of TiSto’s software committee, said in the article.
In his opinion, the melody and rhythm of a song cannot be separated from each other when evaluating plagiarism. The similarity of the musical material as a whole is decisive.
The organization does not comment on individual cases, such as the case of Lorraine and Mika Newton mentioned elsewhere.
Teosto’s legal affairs representative still answers by email asking that he can comment on the plagiarism topic at a general level.
Mika Newton represented Ukraine at Eurovision in 2011. Photo: Antti Hämälainen
In what cases is it appropriate to accuse of plagiarism?
– Basically, it is the decision of the author or rights holder, since the request to check for possible plagiarism basically comes from the author or rights holder himself. That is, to or from those who feel that their copyright has been infringed.
– Authors are able to transfer their rights, or authorize a third party (such as a record company) to monitor their rights. Such third party may, by virtue of the assignment or authorization, have the right to take legal action in the event that the copyright of the original copy is deemed to have been infringed. No outside party can make allegations.
If this is a case between two international artists who work in different countries and whose home countries have their own copyright laws, who will pursue the matter?
– The entity (i.e. the author, rightful owner or rights holder) who believes that its copyright has been infringed. Usually with the help of your own legal counsel. In this case, the procedural rules and practices of the countries in question are followed, which regulate the course of the whole process.
Is the younger artist always at the bottom in such cases? Is it enough that a high profile artist has enough legal experts to help turn the case around?
Ultimately, the independent judiciary is responsible for the legal resolution of the case.
In relation to the Helsingin Sanomat article, it was stated that the European Broadcasting Company EBU may have “some role” in the discussion if the tattoo is deemed plagiarism. What does this mean in practice? Can the EBU also be approved in this case if we go that far?
– There are at least two levels here: how plagiarism is assessed in general and how specifically in the context of the EBU or Eurovision. The EBU has its own rules regarding songs participating in Eurovision, and especially in the light of these rules, the EBU may have a role to play if a contest song is considered plagiarism.
– At Teosto, we have not evaluated these rules in detail, so we cannot comment on them in more detail. As you know, claims of plagiarism have been made in the past in relation to works that have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, Teosto responded.
