In a bizarre story this week Yellowcard, who enjoyed some mainstream success in the early 2000s, are suing rapper Juice Wrld for $15 million! The defunct florida quintet have argued that Juice Wrld’s song ‘Lucid Dreams’ uses ‘melodic elements’ from track ‘Holly Wood Died’ from the 2006 album ‘Lights And Sounds’.
According to the complaint, “The Infringing Work and Infringing Sound Recording directly misappropriates quantitatively and qualitatively important portions of Plaintiffs’ Original Work in a manner that is easily recognizable to the ordinary observer. The Infringing Work and Infringing Sound Recording are not only substantially similar to the Original Work, but in some places virtually identical…The high degree of objective similarity between the Original Work and the Infringing Work extends well beyond the possibility of coincidence and could only reasonably be the result of an act of copying.”
Have a listen to the two tracks below and see if you think Yellowcard have a case. Basically, the chorus in ‘Lucid Dreams’ is the same melody as the verses in ‘Holly Wood Died’. $15 million though?