Selena Gomez is now an alleged thief and yet Justin Bieber’s girlfriend thought the only thing she ever stole was his heart! Do Selena and her publishers owe a cool $ 1 million to some unknown band? That’s what Plaintiffs Tom Luce, Brian Kroll, Matt Blackett and Lawrence Riggs, of the band “Luce“ claim. They say Gomez’s chorus in her 2010 hit, “A Year Without Rain” is “virtually identical” to their 2005 song, “Buy a Dog.”, which appeared on their second album, entitled, “Never Ending”.
Gomez’s song was an international hit and was also released in Spanish (Un Año Sin Lluvia) after becoming a hit when performed with Gomez’s band, The Scene. The Scene, also named as a defendant, claimed the song was written by co-defendants Lindy Robbins and Toby Gad. The Luce members are represented by Nicholas Carlin, with Phillips, Erlewine & Given.
“The melodies in the chorus of both songs are virtually identical,” claim attorneys’ for Luce. “Defendants continue to infringe plaintiffs’ copyright by, among other things, creating and distributing phonorecords in various formats, including but not limited to compact discs and digital downloads, embodying or incorporating performances of the infringing work,” the complaint states. “At no time have the plaintiffs authorized defendants, or any of them, to republish, perform, create derivative works based on or otherwise exploit all or any portion of their song.”
The band also says its’ song “was a No. 1 record on several radio stations around the United States, including WRLT in Nashville and KFOG in San Francisco, at both of which it was among the 10 most played records for the entire year of 2005”.
Honestly, there are only so many musical notes to play and eventually songs do begin to sound similar. Do you think Selena Gomez intentionally ripped off this bands’ song? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
