As the “Blurred Lines’ trial continues, jurors got an inside look on how much Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. financially made from the single.
Both sides agree to the settlement that attributes to $16,675, 690 in profits for the “Blurred Lines’ single; which was the biggest single of 2013. This left $5,658,214 to Thicke, $5,153,457 to Williams and $704,774 to T.I. The rest was left for the record company to take home. Here, the numbers are revealed as part of a copyright case because the family of Marvin Gaye feels that they are entitled to a bigger portion of the profit from “Blurred Lines” because it’s a copyright infringement of “Got to Give It Up.” But that wasn’t the end of the settlement. Not only do they believe they deserve sales of the song, but his children Frankie and Nona Gaye want a piece of the tour money, which according to the testimony given, received over $11 million to the success of the song.
Gaye’s estate besides seeking profits that claim $4 million from 50 percent of the publishing earnings of “Blurred Lines” are also seeking actual damages, or an amount of money to compensate them for a reduction of the fair market value of the licensing of “Got to Give It Up.”
But this isn’t the end of Robin’s lawsuits coming from the estate. They are also starting the proceedings for Thicke’s single “Love After War,” which alleged to have misappropriated Gaye’s “After The Dance.” That song, according to more testimony made $895,374 in profits.
Richard Busch who is the attorney for the Gaye’s family are seeking damages at $40 million. This leads us to really sit back and think considering these cases happen all the time, wouldn’t artists understand the idea of gaining permission from the estate before releasing a single that could potentially make so much in profits long-term?
-Bri Christian (@brirezy)
