Swifties trying to defend Taylor Swift for not crediting other artist’s work used in her new album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ could put Swift at risk of an intellectual property lawsuit.
Image credits Universal Music Group (UMG)
To listeners, many melodies on Swift’s new album sound similar if not identical to other songs, with similarities appearing on over five different occasions across the album’s entirety.
The title track is said to sound similar to the Jonas Brothers 2019 song ‘Cool’. Alleged Charli XCX distrack, ‘Actually Romantic’ also has an identical chord progression to Weezer’s 2005 song ‘Beverly Hills’.
Critiques have called Swift out for not crediting these artists, other than George Michael, something that her fanbase has attempted to fix.
On the lyric website, Genius, fans can edit lyrics and descriptions. Many of Swift’s fans have taken to adding artist credits to many songs on the album.
This was an effort to help Swift as her fanbase attempted to say that it was her team who was providing these credits, despite the credits never appearing on any physical albums.
The acknowledgement from fans that credit to other artists is needed could actually get Swift into significant legal trouble due to intellectual property rights.
What are intellectual property rights?
Intellectual property rights granted to artists that prohibit anyone else from copying their work or taking aspects of it without permission.
In music, intellectual property is breached when an artist has used the same melody, chord progression, or lyrics that have been created by another artist without providing any credit or royalties. Something listeners have identified taking place with ‘The Life of a Showgirl’.
What does this mean for Swift?
If the owners of the songs that fans have credited in the Genius lyrics chose to take legal action against Swift for the breaches, it would result in financial losses and a loss of reputation for Swift.
Swift has previously taken action against Olivia Rodrigo, gaining writing credits for 2 songs on her debut album ‘Sour’, after Rodrigo said Swift’s work had inspired her.
However, what goes around comes around as Swift claimed writing credits from Rodrigo for much less than what she has done herself with the new album.
As of writing this article, the Genius fan credits have all been removed, but nothing can be hidden from the internet as the screenshots of the fan credits have been posted all over TikTok.
It is only a matter of time before the uncredited artists see the online discourse and take action to protect their work against the musical empire that is Taylor Swift.
Feature Image credits Universal Music Group (UMG) and Jonas Group Entertainment
