Black Crowes Accuse Gretchen Wilson of Copyright Infringement
As reported by Billboard.com, lawyers for the Black Crowes have served copyright infringement notices to Gretchen Wilson, TNT, Sony BMG and publishing company J Money Music over the band’s 1991 hit “Jealous Again.”
The Crowes claim Wilson exploited the track for her own song, “Work Hard, Play Harder,” which TNT in turn then used in ads for its show “Saving Grace.”
“Work Hard, Play Harder” is slated to appear on Wilson’s next studio album, due before the end of the year.
“We find the musical verses of Wilson’s song to be such an obvious example of copyright infringement that I expect all parties to reach a relatively quick resolution to avoid litigation,” Crowes manager Pete Angelus says in a statement.
A spokesperson for Wilson had no comment on the development.
You can watch a copy of the TNT promo below.
What do you think? Is this a rip off of the Black Crowes song, Jealous Again?
Here is the Black Crowes video for Jealous Again. Personally, I am not hearing much similarity.
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i hear it, and i know johnny pretty well and those guys are amazing……it sux when people take without credit is all….
i totally agree if u cant hear the similarities your nuts! Gretchin Wilson is a peon compared to the black crowes. They have more talent in theyre instruments! They are the greatest band EVER!!
This does not suprise me, I am aware of another song that I believe has been infringed on by the same artist, Wish I knew who the attorneys are for Black Crows I would sure give them so more ammunition.
sue her… same keys? same phrasing? hearing hers theres no mistake i was hearing an old favorite “the Black Crowes”
Well, this is kinda a tough one. Both songs are in the key of D and the first two vocal lines of each verse of the Gretchen Wilson song use the exact same phrasing and melody as the black Crowes song. That, however, is where the similarity ends. I don’t know if these two things are enough to constitute plagerism or not.
I guess I will have to listen to these again. I didn’t hear it last night, but obviously there is something there that I missed.
I’m with the first commenter on this. There have been a lot of copyright cases that I simply didn’t hear the resemblance, yet the original artist won. This one IMHO is a slam dunk for The Black Crowes.
You seriously can’t hear that the vocal melody in the verses is exactly the same?
I’ve wondered about your hearing after reading some of your album reviews, but the similarities here are tough to miss.
I thought it was a cover version gone wrong when I first heard the TNT commercial.
Crowes: “Always drunk on Sunday…”
Wilson: “double shift on Monday…”
Sometimes great minds think alike, and sometimes they get their asses sued for plagarism.
Gretchen Wilson is a great singer, but her songs are plain awful.