In the world of music, the conversation of an artist taking lyrics from another artist is always frequent in headlines. It seems as in every artist’s career, they are accused of copying or stealing lyrics from another individual. One extremely well known copyright infringement case is when Marvin Gaye sued Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for plagiarizing Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up” in their song, “Blurred Lines.” Gaye ended up winning the copyright case with a settlement of $5.3 million.

But at what point should these artists actually be held responsible for potential copyright infringement? In my daily life, such as with school, we are required to submit our essays through a plagiarism checking software, making sure that students are not taking someone else’s ideas. It is well known that plagiarism is something frowned upon and that you should not do, but are artists included in this? I think yes. Taking someone else’s work and claiming it as your own is unacceptable. The person who originally completed the work has now been cheated, and maybe not even given recognition by the general public.

I know that actually taking an individual to court for their copyright infringement is a hard task to complete, but I feel it is strongly needed for the best outcome. Individuals who take advantage of others’ hard work for profit should not be allowed, and it should be talked about seriously in the industry.

In my opinion, to help combat this, I personally don’t listen to artists who are known for copyright infringement. By not supporting this act, it helps other artists everywhere have a more successful career.