Oh say it ain't so!
A songwriter out of New York has accused Rascal Flatts of lifting part of one of his songs and is suing mad.
D.L. Byron fileda federal lawsuit against the group, their producers and Disney Music Group label. The Flatts song in question is No Reins off of their "Still Feels Good" album. Byron says the first 17 seconds is far too close to the chorus of his song, Shadows of the Night, made famous in the 80s by Pat Benetar.
"It's just too much, too strikingly similar," Byron told The Post.
"They'd have to have a tremendous lapse of memory not to realize what they were doing. It's my contention there's willful infringement."
The surprising thing about all of this is that Byron filed last August. Odd this is the first I'm hearing of it.
No one from Rascal Flatts' crew is talking right now, but in court papers Joe Don Rooney defended their song, saying: "To the extent that 'No Reins' shares any similarities with the plaintiff's alleged copyrighted work, any such similarities between the two works are the result of coincidence and/or the use of common or trite ideas," according to lawyers for band member Joe Don Rooney.
No word on what Byron wants. Money I'm thinking. Take a listen below and tell me if you think the two songs are similar enough for a lawsuit.
Way too close. It doesn't matter if you change the lyrics, as long as the melody is the same it's copyright infringement. Besides, Rascall Flatts and most new country sucks. That's why this guy didn't hear it until now.
Posted by: Chris | March 03, 2009 at 09:21 AM
i think that the tunes are very similar, but the words are a lot different. maybe it was coincidental. he could have heard the song years ago and then when he wrote the song it just came to him that way. im a big rf fan and i think that this guy is just trying to get money. this song has been out for awhile, so it sure has taken him a long time to come out and say something.
Posted by: Jenny | February 13, 2009 at 11:37 AM
i think that the tunes are very similar, but the words are a lot different. maybe it was coincidental. he could have heard the song years ago and then when he wrote the song it just came to him that way. im a big rf fan and i think that this guy is just trying to get money. this song has been out for awhile, so it sure has taken him a long time to come out and say something.
Posted by: Jenny | February 13, 2009 at 11:31 AM
In hip hop music they call this sampling and it's looked at as perfectly fine. I'm not sure whether they consciously used Pat's tune to write this or not...will be interesting to see how this one turns out.
Posted by: Andy | February 13, 2009 at 10:43 AM
That took long enough. i think Flatts will win this one.
Posted by: Sarah | February 12, 2009 at 05:40 PM
When I first heard the Rf song I immediately thought of Pat Benatar's song. I wondered when a lawsuit would be filed.
Posted by: K | February 12, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Dunno about the legal threshold, but I do know the first time I heard "No Reins" I immediately started singing, "We're running with the shadows of the night ..."
Posted by: Chris N. | February 12, 2009 at 10:09 AM
Yes it's just about identical. It might be coincidental but I see why the guy is suing. Taylor Swift does this kind of thing all the time in terms of "borrowing" snatches of other people's tunes for her own.
Posted by: blueblood | February 12, 2009 at 09:42 AM
That is very close- although I'm not completely convinced its intentional and I'm not a Rascal Flatts fan. How many chord progressions are there anyway? Interesting...
Posted by: Jayne King | February 12, 2009 at 07:10 AM
Tough call. They sound similar to me, but enough for a lawsuit, I don't know. Either way, I'm sure he's seeking money. It'll be interesting to see how this one plays out.
Posted by: Stephanie | February 11, 2009 at 11:48 PM