Ice Ice Baby
Ice Ice Baby, Under Pressure
In 1981, Queen released a song featuring David Bowie title “Under Pressure.” The song was a huge success and was recently listed as VH1’s 31st best song of the 1980’s. 11 years later in 1991, Vanilla Ice recorded “Ice Ice Baby,” which was so popular it ended up being the 1st rap song to ever reach #1 on the billboard top 100. Why was the song so popular? It had an infectious beat that sounded so new, yet so familiar. A few months later Vanilla Ice was approached by Queen who threatened Ice with a copyright infringement suit for stealing their base line. The infringement suit ended up being settled outside of court after it is rumored that Vanilla Ice paid Queen the “songwriting royalties” to the song. http://www.benedict.com/audio/Vanilla/Vanilla.aspx 1. Do you personally believe Vanilla Ice borrowed ideas from Queen’s hit? Explain your answer.
I think they probably did but it cannot be proven and they don’t use the same lyrics. Actually this happens a lot so I feel it shouldn’t be a problem in this case scenario.
2. The songs do not share any of the same lyrics, should this exempt the song writer from being found guilty of copyright infringement? Defend your answer.
Yes, until actual proof is found I think they are innocent. Just because there songs have the same topic doesn’t mean one artist got their ideas from the other.
3. Which song do you think is better and more creative? Why?
I think “Ice Ice Baby “is more creative it’s obvious they took more time into to writing the song because it’s longer and its catchier as well.
4. Should Vanilla Ice have to pay Queen for using a similar bass line, even though he claims there were slight differences in the two?
No because it happens all the time its life. It’s up to the fans to catch on and see which one they like better.
5. What do you think would be a reasonable punishment for an artist found guilty of copyright infringement?
I don’t think there should
In 1981, Queen released a song featuring David Bowie title “Under Pressure.” The song was a huge success and was recently listed as VH1’s 31st best song of the 1980’s. 11 years later in 1991, Vanilla Ice recorded “Ice Ice Baby,” which was so popular it ended up being the 1st rap song to ever reach #1 on the billboard top 100. Why was the song so popular? It had an infectious beat that sounded so new, yet so familiar. A few months later Vanilla Ice was approached by Queen who threatened Ice with a copyright infringement suit for stealing their base line. The infringement suit ended up being settled outside of court after it is rumored that Vanilla Ice paid Queen the “songwriting royalties” to the song. http://www.benedict.com/audio/Vanilla/Vanilla.aspx 1. Do you personally believe Vanilla Ice borrowed ideas from Queen’s hit? Explain your answer.
I think they probably did but it cannot be proven and they don’t use the same lyrics. Actually this happens a lot so I feel it shouldn’t be a problem in this case scenario.
2. The songs do not share any of the same lyrics, should this exempt the song writer from being found guilty of copyright infringement? Defend your answer.
Yes, until actual proof is found I think they are innocent. Just because there songs have the same topic doesn’t mean one artist got their ideas from the other.
3. Which song do you think is better and more creative? Why?
I think “Ice Ice Baby “is more creative it’s obvious they took more time into to writing the song because it’s longer and its catchier as well.
4. Should Vanilla Ice have to pay Queen for using a similar bass line, even though he claims there were slight differences in the two?
No because it happens all the time its life. It’s up to the fans to catch on and see which one they like better.
5. What do you think would be a reasonable punishment for an artist found guilty of copyright infringement?
I don’t think there should