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Radiohead publisher denies it has gone legal in Lana Del Rey Creep dispute

By | Published on Wednesday 10 January 2018

Radiohead

So, you know how Lana Del Rey said that she was being sued by Radiohead after their lawyers demanded 100% of the publishing in her ‘Creep’ like song ‘Get Free’? Well, Radiohead’s music publisher Warner/Chappell has responded. There is no lawsuit, the company says. And the band have never demanded 100% of the publishing, it adds.

As previously reported, Del Ray declared on Twitter last weekend that “it’s true about the lawsuit”. She was seemingly responding to rumours that an ongoing dispute with Radiohead – who had claimed that ‘Get Free’ from her 2017 album ‘Lust For Life’ lifted elements of ‘Creep’ without permission – had now gone legal.

Expanding on negotiations to date, Del Ray then added: “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”.

Although denying that any legal papers had been filed or that anyone has demanded Radiohead receive 100% of the copyright in Del Ray’s song, a spokesperson for Warner/Chappell confirmed that the publisher does believe that ‘Get Free’ borrows from ‘Creep’. That’s a conclusion they, like many people, possibly reached by giving ‘Get Free’ a cursory listen.

Says the Warner/Chappell spokesperson: “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. 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'”.

As previously noted, if Radiohead do get their requested acknowledgement, and if that acknowledgement includes a cut of the royalties generated by Del Rey’s track, then that could also benefit songwriters Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. Because both were added as co-writers on ‘Creep’ after they complained that the 1992 track borrowed from their 1974 Hollies song ‘The Air That I Breathe’.



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