The Blurred Lines trial has ended and Robin Thicke and Pharell Williams are accused of plagiarism of the 1977 Marvin Gaye hit What's Going On. The Gaye song has similar attributes to the smash hit Blurred Lines and Williams and Thicke claimed innocence saying their song was based on a 'feeling' not on actual sampling. The jury found them guilty and the family of the late Marvin Gaye was awarded $7.4 million dollars. According to The Hollywood Reporter on Yahoo, Thicke and Williams were behaving like "bullies" and perhaps didn't think the Gaye's' had the resources to win when they filed a declaratory lawsuit saying there was no copyright infringement.
The lawsuit has brought up some debate and questions about music, plagiarism and creativity. Is there really any new and/or original music being produced? and how much of it is really original? As humans evolve so do ideas and in this evolution is it possible to channel ideas from the great masters of the past? Grammy winning producer Jermaine Dupree spoke out in an article from the Associated Press and expressed that he could see both sides of the lawsuit. Dupree expressed that in his opinion hip hop is created from past music and that it is a feeling. I agree. It was
In the original book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, the author recommended having "imaginary Council meetings" with what he termed "imaginary counselors". Hill described his nightly routine of shutting his eyes and using his imagination with a group of men with impressive traits he wished to imbue. During this trial Williams indicated the influence of the song "Blurred Lines" was drawn from the influence of Marvin Gaye whom he was a fan of growing up. Hill stated in the book, "I have never entirely divested myself of this habit of "hero-worship" I found myself trying to imitate those whom I most admired. Moreover I discovered that the element of faith, with which I endeavored to imitate my idols, gave me great capacity to do so quite successfully." Hill further explained, "My experience has taught me that the next best thing to being truly great is to emulate the great, by feeling and action, as nearly as possible". The video below shows just how great an influence Marvin Gaye was and still is...
I recall an interview with Pharell Williams on the Oprah Show wherein he described his inspiration as sometimes coming during a shower. It was fascinating to hear him describe the shower as a place of sensory deprivation in which ideas can flow. This would be similar to the state of deep meditation or hypnosis. How and where you get your inspiration is a personal choice but be careful where that idea originated is the message from this verdict.
Blurred Lines was the biggest hit song of 2013. If the aim of the writers was to emulate the feeling of the late great Marvin Gaye they succeeded. Too bad that success has resulted in creating some "blurred lines". Hopefully this verdict does not stifle the flow of "Creative Imagination" or the "sixth sense" as described by Napoleon Hill.
May we all be able to Think and Grow Rich!
For more info on how hypnosis can help inspire you call(305) 305-2288
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