As a civil case ensues over Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" and its relation to Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up," Pharrell Williams summed up the similarity in one phrase: "Feel; not infringement."
According to the testimony, both sides agree to an accounting statement that attributes $16,675,690 in profits for "Blurred Lines," of which $5,658,214 went to Thicke, $5,153,457 was given to Williams and $704,774 was doled out to T.I.
The record companies--Interscope, UMG Distribution and Star Trak--took hom the rest, with Universal Music's executive testifying that overhead costs accounted for $6.9 million.
As one would surmise, it was the biggest hit of 2013.
However, The Hollywood Reporter, notes that "few things are more closely guarded in the song business than financial profitability, and these types of details usually only leak in accounting disputes."
Numbers, thus, revealed as part of the copyright case that the family of Gaye asserts entitlement to a large sum of profits from "Blurred Lines" over the alleged infringement.
Williams continued to say of the composition: "I must've been channeling 'that' feeling, that late '70s feeling. Sometimes when you look back on your past work, you see echoes of people. But that doesn't mean that's what you were doing."
The case centers around the written music attributed to "Blurred Lines," which is said to closely resemble the Gaye production, particularly on paper. Sheet music, in this case, is held under Gaye's copyright.
While the case unfolds in court, one thing is for certain: the song yielded a bewildering profit so high that it's almost criminal.
Until the dust clears and the case is settled, get down with "Lines" below.
