4 Lawsuits That Changed the Music Industry Forever

The music industry can be both delicate and cutthroat. And quite a few different lawsuits through the years changed the way the industry operated for good. Let’s take a look at just a few music industry lawsuits and copyright suits that blew the whole thing wide open.

1. Spirit vs. Led Zeppelin

Just because you’re one of the biggest bands in the world doesn’t mean you get to steal music. However, some bands seem to get away with it… and other bands get accused of stealing songs that they did not actually steal. 

The band Spirit famously sued Led Zeppelin for allegedly stealing the guitar solo from their 1968 song “Taurus” for their infamous 1971 track “Stairway To Heaven”. It took years to launch the suit, but they finally launched the lawsuit in 2014. Sadly for Spirit, despite proving that Led Zeppelin had access to their song during a tour the two bands were part of, it was eventually ruled that the songs were not actually similar in 2016. The case was appealed, turned down, and eventually closed for good in 2020.

2. Chuck Berry vs. The Beach Boys

Chuck Berry’s guitar riffs have been sampled probably hundreds of times by now. Some bands, though, got a little too handsy with Berry’s music. The Beach Boys famously took Berry’s famous 1958 track “Sweet Little Sixteen” and altered the lyrics slightly before releasing it under their name as “Surfin’ USA” in 1963. After a lawsuit threat, the band’s manager handed over publishing rights to the song to Arc Music. Both Brian Wilson and Chuck Berry are now credited for the song.

While no lawsuit came to fruition, this is one of the very first big plagiarism cases in modern music history.

3. Queen and David Bowie vs. Vanilla Ice

You can’t just sample another band’s song, not credit them, not pay them royalties, and expect to not have to deal with potential lawsuits. One-hit wonder Vanilla Ice famously sampled Queen and David Bowie’s bassline in the song “Under Pressure” for his 1990 hit song “Ice Ice Baby”. 

Naturally, the powerhouse musicians weren’t happy about it. After launching a case against Ice, all parties settled the matter out of court and Ice had to pay them an undisclosed amount of money. Now, Bowie and Queen have songwriting credits on the track, despite initially wanting nothing to do with that particular “collaboration”.

4. CCR’s Label vs. John Fogerty

Well, this was a weird case of music industry lawsuits. John Fogerty was quite literally sued for sounding too much like John Fogerty.

Fogerty wrote songs and sang for much of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s lifespan. After leaving the band, the record label Fantasy sued him for plagiarizing his own work and sounding too much like CCR. After releasing the solo track “The Old Man Down The Road” in 1985, Fogerty was sued by Fantasy on the grounds that he plagiarized the 1970 CCR tune “Run Through The Jungle”.

Thankfully, the courts took Fogerty’s side. But he still had to pay some hefty legal fees.

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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