To avoid future copyright issues, Ed Sheeran says he now films every single writing session.  In a new interview on BBC2’s Newsnight, Ed told the programme, “I just film everything to prevent a similar case ever being brought in the future.  We’ve had claims come through on songs and we go, ‘Well here’s the footage and you watch, and you’ll see that there’s nothing there.'”

 

Ed recently won a copyright case over claims that he ‘plagiarized’ his song ‘Shape Of You.’  Sami, who goes by Sami Switch, claimed his ‘Oh I’ hook was ‘strikingly similar’ to the ‘Oh Why’ that’s featured in Ed’s ‘Shape of You.’

 

“I’m happy it’s over. I’m happy we can move on and get back to writing songs. Lawsuits are not fun for anyone involved. And yeah, I think across all sides it was not a nice experience.  I had to stand up for what we thought was right.  It was not about the money, this is about heart and honesty,” Ed says of his current case.

 

 

 

 

After an 11-day trial, Justice Zacaroli ruled that Ed ‘neither deliberately nor subconsciously’ copied the phrase when writing ‘Shape Of You.’  Prior to this case (2017), Ed settled a $20 million copyright case over his single ‘Photograph.’

 

 

 

 

As a result of the copyright court cases, Ed’s songwriting has changed, “I personally think the best feeling in the world is the euphoria around the first idea of writing a great song. That feeling has now turned into, ‘Oh wait, let’s stand back for a minute.’  You find yourself, in the moment, second-guessing yourself.”

 

As for ‘Photograph,’ Ed explains, “I didn’t play ‘Photograph’ for ages after that.  I just stopped playing it. I felt weird about it, it kind of made me feel dirty. And we’ve now got to a point where we actually own all of the song again.”

 

Filed under: Ed Sheeran