Ed Sheeran has called for an end to “baseless” copyright claims after his High Court victory over the creation of Shape of You, arguing they are “really damaging to the songwriting industry”.
The singer was vindicated on Wednesday morning when a judge ruled parts of his hit song had not been copied from a grime artist’s track, dismissing the legal claim as “speculative”.
In a video message on Instagram, Sheeran said he wants his own victory to draw a line on copyright claims which he called “way too common now”.
“While we are obviously happy with the result, I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no base for the claim,” he said.
“This is really damaging to the songwriting industry. There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify. That’s 22 milion songs a year and there are only 12 notes that are available.”
Speaking directly to the camera, Sheeran continued: “I don’t want to take anything away from the pain and hurt suffered from both sides in this case.
“But I just want to say I’m not an entity, I’m not a corporation, I’m a human being, I’m a father, I’m a husband, I’m a son.
“Lawsuits are not a pleasant experience and I hope with this ruling it means in the future baseless claims like this can be avoided.
“This really does have to end.”
He said he had been inundated with messages of support from other singers and writers, adding: “Hopefully we can all get back to writing songs, rather than having to prove that we can write them.”
Sheeran wrote Shape of You in 2016 with Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, with the song going on to be a worldwide smash hit and most streamed track on Spotify.
He was accused by grime artist Sami Chokri – who performs as Sami Switch – and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue of taking the “Oh I” hook in Shape Of You from their song “Oh Why”.
But Mr Justice Zacaroli on Wednesday concluded that Sheeran had not heard ‘Oh Why’ prior to writing his own song, and the singer had not infringed the copyright.
In a joint statement, the creators of Shape of You said: “There was a lot of talk throughout this case about cost. But there is more than just a financial cost. There is a cost on creativity. When we are tangled up in lawsuits, we are not making music or playing shows.
“There is a cost on our mental health. The stress this causes on all sides is immense. It affects so many aspects of our everyday lives and the lives of our families and friends.”
Lamenting the “impact on both us and the wider circle of songwriters everywhere”, they said: “There is a need for a safe space for all songwriters to be creative, and free to express their hearts. That is why we all got into this in the first place. Everyone should be able to freely express themselves in music, in art and do so fearlessly.
“At the same time, we believe that there should be due process for legitimate and warranted copyright protection. However, that is not the same as having a culture where unwarranted claims are easily brought. This is not constructive or conducive to a culture of creativity.”
