Gap Band Gets Writing Credit on ‘Uptown Funk’ After Complaining About Song Similarity

Mark Ronson has added five new writers to “Uptown Funk” after the 1970s Gap Band claimed similarities to “Oops, Up Side Your Head,” in a decision that came on the heels of the lawsuit that determined Pharrell and Robin Thicke had to pay Marvin Gaye’s family for similarities between one of Gaye’s hits and “Blurred Lines.”

Minder Management filed a claim on behalf of the “Oops” writers to YouTube’s content management system in February, Billboard reports. RCA records, which put out “Uptown Funk,” added the five “Oops” writers to the existing list of six for “Uptown Funk” on April 28.

Danny Zook, who manages Trinidad James, one of the original songwriters on “Uptown Funk,” talked to Billboard about the effects of the “Blurred Lines” decision on the music legal landscape. “Everyone is being a little more cautious,” he said. “Nobody wants to be involved in a lawsuit. Once a copyright dispute goes to a trial, [if a jury is used], it is subject to be decided by public opinion—and no longer resolved based entirely on copyright law.”

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