Okay, two quick points here. As predicted in previous columns, the Marvin Gaye offspring, Nona, Frankie and Marvin Gaye III, won their lawsuit against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke for copyright infringement regarding the monster hit song “Blurred Lines.” The eight-member jury voted unanimously in U.S. federal court that Williams and Thicke had too closely copied Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit, “Got to Give it Up,” without paying the proper royalties to the copyright holders (the Gaye siblings). Whether the copying was willful, or unintended, the jury said, it was not innocent and a penalty had to be imposed. The Gaye family won $7.4 million dollars as a result of the jury’s decision. The rapper, T.I., who co-wrote a later segment of the song after the track was already laid, was not penalized by the jury.
Interestingly, Williams had also reportedly “signed a document stating he didn’t use any other artists’ work in the music and would be responsible if a successful copyright claim was raised.”
This is a hurtful blow not only to the growing reputation of Williams as a major music producer (a recent Grammy winner, popular musical personality on the TV show, “The Voice,” and producer of records which sold more than100 million copies), but it is also a significant beatdown to those who have built their musical careers in whole or in part on copying other people’s music. Part of the hip hop generation in music has been this cavalier attitude about “creatively borrowing” previous musical compositions without giving proper credit, and without paying the appropriate license fees. The standard rationale these musicians give when questioned about such similarity is that they are merely paying respect to the previous artist.
This case said “hogwash” to that notion. Hopefully, this case will arrest that trend, without destroying rap and neo-soul music in the process, and we can get to see whether a number of those now enjoying musical fame actually have the talent for which they have been lauded. If the verdict has a deeper, more long lasting impact, the slow death of this generation’s genre of music may occur, as some have been long predicting. Already, rap has lasted far longer (nearly three decades) than most analysts have predicted.
A short time will tell whether this body blow to the reputation of one of the most identifiable modern artists will usher in this genre’s demise. We must keep a close eye on this situation.
Secondly, there is hope for Compton College. In 2006, Compton College had to be adopted by El Camino College because Compton College had lost its accreditation as a viable academic institution. The Accrediting Commission for Junior and Community Colleges, which oversees more than 100 colleges in California, Hawaii and the Pacific, had essentially disaccredited, and thus given a death sentence, to Compton College, an institution that had been in existence for more than 70-years at that time. In order for Compton to remain as an academic institution, former U.S. Congressman and champion California legislator, Mervyn Dymally, had pushed through a bill that adjoined Compton College to El Camino in order to save Compton. It is now called El Camino College Compton Center. To many, this a colonial relationship.
Anyway, the Accrediting Commission, thinking itself unstoppable, had taken on City College of San Francisco, the largest community college in the U.S.A., with more than 80,000 students, and tried to close it. The city of San Francisco sued the commission, and last Friday, the Superior Court judge hearing the case, Curtis Karnow, basically ruled that the Commission had violated the law and its own rules, and that the City College of San Francisco had a reprieve against being closed.
The opening for Compton College is that part of the ruling that said the Commission broke California law in its evaluation of the San Francisco college. Compton may also be able to get a similar legal result, or, taking an easier route, may be able to successfully argue to the State Chancellor of Community Colleges, Dr. Brice W. Harris, that the Accrediting Commission needs to be barred from operating in the state, or at a minimum, Compton College and others in California should be able to choose another evaluative commission that has not been convicted of breaking the law. Compton College should get a fresh evaluation from an unbiased source.
That would be great news for a beleaguered city and college, really down on itself for losing its accreditation and failing its students. Again, let’s keep our eye on how this drama unfolds. Will Compton College get its self-reliant mojo back?
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which operates and which meets every fourth Friday.
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