Lana Del Rey speaks out on the consequences of being sued by Radiohead

The singer denies her song 'Get Free' was inspired by 'Creep'

Lana Del Rey has responded to reports that she is being sued by Radiohead for copyright infringement – and now claimed that it could be removed from her album ‘Lust For Life’.

This weekend, it was alleged that the ‘Born To Die’ singer was accused of copying elements of their 1993 hit ‘Creep’ on her ‘Lust For Life’ album track ‘Get Free’. It’s the final song on the number one record, which also includes the single ‘Love’.

According to The Sun, “both teams are trying to thrash it out behind the scenes to prevent it going to court.”

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The source added: “It’s understood that Radiohead’s team are hoping for the band to either receive compensation or be credited on the list of songwriters to receive royalties.”

https://twitter.com/LanaDelRey/status/950065789549166592

Del Rey then took to Twitter to confirm the dispute, adding that the matter would now be dealt with in court after negotiations led to a dead end.

“It’s true about the lawsuit,” she wrote. “Although I know my song wasn’t inspired by Creep, Radiohead feel it was and want 100% of the publishing – I offered up to 40 over the last few months but they will only accept 100. Their lawyers have been relentless, so we will deal with it in court.”

At her concert in Denver, Colorado on Sunday (January 7), Lana called ‘Get Free’ her “personal manifesto” and said that it might be removed from ‘Lust For Life’ as part of the lawsuit.

Del Rey said: “I just want to let you know, regardless if it gets taken down off of everything, that those sentiments that I wrote… that I really am going to strive for them, even if that song is not on future physical releases of the record.”

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She added: “I just wanted to let you know that for the kids and for the not-kids, who are the real fans, who are here. So that’s probably the last thing I’ll say about it. But thanks.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZM_CQGX8Gw

Blur guitarist Graham Coxon then took to Twitter to voice what many others on social media were saying, pointing out Radiohead’s original legal battle with The Hollies over the track. ‘Creep’ famously shares a chord progression and melody with The Hollies’ 1972 hit ‘The Air That I Breathe’, resulting in writers Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood suing to receive co-writing credits and a percentage of the song’s royalties.

“I always thought the Hollies wrote it.. hehe,” wrote Coxon, sharing a clip of ‘The Air That I Breathe’.

‘Get Free’ is currently credited with Lana Del Rey, Kieron Menzies and Rick Nowels as writers.

The track’s comment section on YouTube is littered with posts drawing similarities between the songs. “Really love Lana Del Rey but this song like ‘Creep’ from Radiohead,” one user said, while another argues: “I think the melody might be inspired by it and similar, but it’s definitely not a complete rip off. They are two completely different songs.” 

Lana Del Rey

Meanwhile, Thom Yorke has once again voiced his concerns over the way Spotify pays its artists. Last month, he posted a tweet drawing his followers’ attention to a thread about Spotify by Portishead’s Geoff Barrow.

In 2013, Yorke and Nigel Godrich removed Radiohead‘s music from Spotify, with Yorke describing the platform as “the last desperate fart of a dying corpse”.

Since then, Radiohead’s music has gradually made its way back to the streaming service. It was then finally joined by Yorke’s two solo records (2006’s ‘The Eraser’ and 2014’s ‘Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes’), along with Atoms For Peace‘s 2013 album ‘AMOK’.

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