A spokesman for Radiohead‘s publisher Warner/Chappell Music has acknowledged that the publishers have “been in discussions” with Lana Del Rey‘s representatives about her 2017 song “Get Free” over its alleged compositional similarities to Radiohead’s own 1993 hit “Creep.” This week, anonymously sourced reports claimed that the band was planning on suing Lana Del Rey over the song, which Del Rey seemed to confirm in a tweet. However, according to the Warner/Chappell spokesperson, the band has not demanded 100 percent of the publishing for “Get Free,” as Del Rey’s tweet claimed. The spokesperson also pointed out that no lawsuit has been filed in the dispute.
“As Radiohead’s music publisher, it’s true that we’ve been in discussions since August of last year with Lana Del Rey’s representatives,” the spokesperson wrote to Spin. “It’s clear that the verses of ‘Get Free’ use musical elements found in the verses of ‘Creep’ and we’ve requested that this be acknowledged in favour of all writers of ‘Creep’. To set the record straight, no lawsuit has been issued and Radiohead have not said they ‘will only accept 100%” of the publishing of ‘Get Free’.”
The publisher’s request that “all writers of ‘Creep’” be acknowledged in the “Get Free” credits is significant. Radiohead themselves gave a percentage of the original song’s publishing to songwriters Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood, who sued the band over similarities between “Creep” and “The Air That I Breathe,” a 1972 hit that the duo penned for the Hollies. The statement would seem to indicate that Hammond and Hazelwood would be given a percentage of the “Get Free” publishing as well if Radiohead’s effort is successful.
Read Lana Del Rey’s original tweet below. We’ve reached out to representatives of Del Rey and will update this post accordingly if and when we hear back.
https://twitter.com/LanaDelRey/status/950065789549166592
