Ed Sheeran threatens to quit music if he loses copyright trial
“I find it really insulting to devote my whole life to being a performer and a songwriter and have someone diminish it,” Ed Sheeran shared on the stand Monday
Despite reports that he wrote seven songs in four hours immediately after finding out his wife had been diagnosed with cancer, Ed Sheeran has formally threatened to be “done” with music for good if he’s found guilty in the ongoing copyright trial comparing “Thinking Out Loud” and Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”
“If that happens, I’m done, I’m stopping,” Sheeran shared when he took the stand Monday (per MailOnline.) “I find it really insulting to devote my whole life to being a performer and a songwriter and have someone diminish it.”
The lawsuit Sheeran currently faces was filed back in 2017 by the heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer on the 1973 soul classic. The lawsuit alleged that Sheeran’s 2014 hit—which won him a Grammy for Song of the Year in 2016—features “striking similarities” to Gaye’s song and “overt common elements” that constitute a violation of their copyright.
Since the trial kicked off last Tuesday, the Townsends have highlighted live performances where Sheeran segues directly between “Thinking Out Loud” and “Let’s Get It On” as indicators of the songs’ similarities, with attorney Benjamin Crump asserting that the mashup itself constituted “a confession” to copying Gaye.
On the other hand, Sheeran’s legal team has asserted the two tracks share nothing more than a series of chord progressions foundational to pop music, with his attorney Irene Farkas stating last Tuesday that Sheeran “created this heartfelt song without copying ‘Let’s Get It On.’” Sheeran himself that its “quite simple to weave in and out of songs” set in the same key, and that such a transition doesn’t necessarily constitute (as Crump called it) a “smoking gun.”
“If I’d done what you’re accusing me of doing, I’d be an idiot to stand on stage in front of 20,000 people [and do that],” the singer testified.
The Manhattan-based trial, which is expected to last around two weeks, arrives just as Sheeran gears up for a massive North American tour and the release of his upcoming album Subtract. Even if the trial doesn’t end in Sheeran’s favor and he makes good on his promise, at least fans can expect another opportunity to hear him live. Just don’t expect a “Thinking Out Loud”/”Let’s Get It On” medley.