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hit-song-showdown · 11 months

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Year-End Poll #64: 2013

[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Robin Thicke, Imagine Dragons, Baauer, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Justin Timberlake, Pink, Bruno Mars, Florida Georgia Line, Katy Perry. End description]

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With Billboard now counting YouTube views into their charts, we're seeing new artists reaching higher chart success from the strength of their music videos or internet virality in general, with songs like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' Thrift Shop and Baauer's Harlem Shake.

Speaking of changing technology, we now have to cover the biggest change that's going to define this decade in music. While first released in the States in 2011, Spotify's impact on the charts will start to become even more evident this year. It will still be a while before Billboard begins implementing data from Spotify and similar streaming services into their charts.

We're also starting to see the electropop and club music dwindle in the charts. Some have attributed this to Lorde's Royals, giving it an almost Smells Like Teen Spirit-esque mythos. But there's also the shift towards more folk and indie sounds in music (and commercials gravitating towards this music as well), streaming encouraging more individual listening, and general shifting tastes.

With the remix of Florida Georgia Line's Cruise, we're also seeing the rise in a subgenre known as bro-country. In terms of country crossover success, this subgenre would come to take over ballads and country pop as the main crossover sound. This is not the last time we'll see an example of country-rap fusion on the charts, and it certainly won't be the last time we see controversy over it.

And speaking of controversy, we need to talk about Blurred Lines. Specifically, we need to talk about Pharrell Williams v. Bridgeport Music. The court case concerned the song's similarities to Marvin Gaye's Got to Give It Up and Sexy Ways. Without going too much into it, the case ruled in favor of Marvin Gaye's estate -- a decision that forever altered the course of music copyright law. Since the ruling, we've seen a rise in lawsuits over perceived musical similarities as well as labels scrambling to give songwriting credits out to avoid potential lawsuits (if you ever wondered why Richard and Fred Fairbrass of Right Said Fred received songwriting credits on Taylor Swift's Look What You Made Me Do, that's why). To quote this entry from Harvard Law's Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law:

Aptly named, the “Blurred Lines” case is now blurring the lines of rather well-settled copyright doctrine and is sending shockwaves through the musical community. While it is unclear what the ultimate impact of Williams will be on the music industry, it has, at the very minimum, put artists and publishers on notice as to how they should approach musical composition to avoid legal issues.

These “copyright trolls” would acquire the copy-rights of older music, and then sue artists for infringement with the hopes of forcing a settlement. Many artists would agree to these settlements, as they often are less expensive than the costs of litigating the issue in court. 65 Further, the threat of litigation may incline new musical artists to obtain unnecessary licenses and other permissions that they feel will protect them from these lawsuits. (Quagliariello, 2019)

The arguments behind the initial court case are still being debated, but what can't be debated is the Pandora's Box of litigation that the case inspired.

Good thing this is the only controversy Blurred Lines had ever faced. At least that's what I'm going to pretend for the sake of this poll.