Sounds similar? Its almost the same chorus with a few words changed!

Ne-Yo wrote the song and the music, so you can't really say Rihanna ripped it off.

I think most cases of musical 'rip offs' are overstated. There are only a few notes you can use, and they have to go together to make a tune. So obviously some songs are going to sound similar to other ones.

 

With samples, as long as it's given clearence and pay royalties they can do what they like.

 

As far as Unfaithful is concerned- it's an utterly generic run-of-the-mill song, that's why it sounds like so many other songs before it.

As far as Unfaithful is concerned- it's an utterly generic run-of-the-mill song, that's why it sounds like so many other songs before it.

 

i thought it was kelly clarkson at first :lol:

the act of ripping off (plagiarim) can be taken to court though, George Harrison famously got sued for "My Sweet Lord" sounding like "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons

 

http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/mysweet.htm

 

The Verve were also sued after some w*nk*r claimed that Bitter Sweet Symphony was a complete rip-off of the Rolling Stones' The Last Time (even though the 2 songs bear no resemblance to each other whatsoever) and thus demanded all the royalties of Bitter Sweet Symphony should go to him (even though he made no contribution to the original Rolling Stones track).

The Verve were also sued after some w*nk*r claimed that Bitter Sweet Symphony was a complete rip-off of the Rolling Stones' The Last Time (even though the 2 songs bear no resemblance to each other whatsoever) and thus demanded all the royalties of Bitter Sweet Symphony should go to him (even though he made no contribution to the original Rolling Stones track).

 

Although the song's lyrics were entirely written by Verve vocalist, Richard Ashcroft, it is credited to Keith Richards and Mick Jagger because the song uses the Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of The Rolling Stones' 1965 song, "The Last Time" as its foundation.

 

Verve had originally negotiated a license to use a sample from the Oldham recording; but it was successfully argued that the Verve had used 'too much' of the sample[1]. However, although only some of "Bitter Sweet Symphony"'s music and not a single line or phrase of the lyrics were contained in the original it led to a lawsuit with ABKCO Records, Allen Klein's company, which owns the rights to the Rolling Stones material of the 60s. The matter was eventually settled out of court, with copyright of the song reverting to ABKCO and songwriting credits to Jagger and Richards. (Legend has it that in a discussion about the lyrics, they would 'work something out', and they would be fairly split '50-50', which the Verve took to mean 50% to the Verve, 50% to the copyright holders, whereas they really meant, 50% to Jagger, 50% to Richards).

 

There have been conflicting reports as to whether or not the song actually samples the Andrew Oldham recording.

 

The song was later used, against the will of the band, by Nike in a shoe commercial. As a result, it was on the Illegal Art CD from Stay Free!. However the band was able to stop further use of the song by employing the European legal concept of moral rights.

 

Ashcroft and the band's reaction to the loss of control and financial rewards from what is possibly their best song was not positive; it has been argued that the issue contributed to Ashcroft's depression and the band's split not long afterwards.

 

Ashcroft played the song, accompanied by Coldplay, at the Live 8 concert held in Hyde Park, London. It was introduced by Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, as "probably the best song ever written" and he referred to Ashcroft as "the greatest singer of all time."

 

On Ashcroft's return to touring, the song traditionally ended the set list. Ashcroft also reworked the single for 'VH2 Live' for the music channel VH1 stripping the song of its strings. Ashcroft is quoted as saying during the show: "Despite all the legal angles and the bull$h!t, strip down to the chords and the lyrics and the melody and you realise there is such a good song there."

 

He also dedicated the song to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at a gig at the Sage Gateshead in Gateshead. After an audience member booed Ashcroft exclaimed "don't boo man, as long as I can play this song I'm happy to pay a few of those guys' bills."

 

Verve guitarist, Nick McCabe, however has come to resent the song claiming that: "It wasn't the Verve, it was just Richard and some other blokes" [2]

 

A sample of the song was used by the group Steel Drum like part of their song Sweet Soca Musicin 2004 and appears in the album in ocassion of the 2006 FIFA World Cup "Goleo IV presents his 2006 FIFA World Cup hits".

Ne-Yo wrote the song and the music, so you can't really say Rihanna ripped it off.

 

that says it ALL then really :rolleyes:

No I meant Ne-Yo wrote the song/music for Rihanna.

Unfaithful sounds nothing like lonely no more in my opinion. Im sure there are loads of songs that we could say sound alike.