Sara Bareilles Brings Class and Integrity to Controversy

gjohnson93
Oct 1, 2016
4 min read

Sara Bareilles has all the makings of a successful copyright lawsuit. A wildly successful song as well as an equally successful song released just three months later with an eerily similar sound and meaning.

BACKGROUND:

Bareilles released Brave on April 23, 2013 as the first single off of her fourth studio album, "The Blessed Unrest" (2013) from Epic Records. The song, recorded in 2011, is a pop song written in the key of B♭ major, with a moderate tempo of 92 beats per minute. Bareilles was inspired to write the song after watching a close friend who was struggling to come out to the people around him, and she wrote it as a message of empowerment and courage.

Roar was released by Katy Perry and her label, Capitol Records, on August 10, 2013. This song, recorded in March 2013, is also a pop song in the key of B♭ major with a moderate tempo of 90 beats per minute. Roar was also written as a song of empowerment.

The songs share no common writers or producers.

THE CONTROVERSY:

When Perry released Roar, listeners immediately recognized the similarities between the songs’ tempo’s and messages, and this is where the controversy erupted. Outraged Bareilles fans, such as @musiqgirl203, accused Perry and her label of stealing Bareilles’ song. This brought a quick response from one of Roar's producers, Dr. Luke, that Roar was completed before Brave was released.

Dr. Luke (Perry's producer) responds to a fan's accusations

Yet another thing working against Perry? She made it clear that she is not only familiar with, but a fan of, Bareilles’ Brave. Perry tweeted to Bareilles praising her for the song, and even included a link.

Perry praises Bareilles' song before Roar's release

With the glaring similarities and clear acknowledgement that Perry is familiar with Brave, the two must have been destined for legal action, right? Wrong.

The stark difference between this copyright controversy and other copyright infringement actions in the music industry is that Bareilles isn’t calling for any legal action. In fact, Bareilles views the songs’ similarities as a blessing, and she is asking her fans to let it go. While she fully acknowledges that she understands where they are coming from, Bareilles believe the more important thing is that positive music is being put out into the world. The buzz around her song is actually HELPING its performance.

Bareilles has been quoted as saying:

"I mean, I can't say that I think that they don't sound similar," Bareilles said. "I've known Katy a really long time and we're friends. And at the end of the day, it was really only good for my song. So, thank you, Katy Perry for that!" (CBSNews)

“The shame that I feel that’s happened is that it’s become a drama. It’s putting this negative spin on two artists that are choosing to share positive messages,” she said. “If I’m not mad I don’t know why anybody else is upset. I’m like, ‘Relax, let’s just celebrate that we can be out there and encouraging people to, like, feel strong and empowered.’” (Idolator).

image from Idolator.com

It’s clear that Bareilles harbors no ill will against Perry, but there is one more clear detail that separates Brave/Roar from other infringement cases. One of the water marks for a copyright infringement case is that the “copy” decreases the original’s potential for audience or sale. However, Roar’s release had the OPPOSITE impact on Brave’s sales and promotion.

According to Billboard.com, Bareilles not only received more exposure from the social media buzz, but it also allowed her song to break into mainstream pop. In the weeks after its release, Brave peaked at number 12 on the Adult Pop Songs list. After Roar was released and audiences brought more attention to Bareilles’ song, Epic Records switched its promotion tactics to mainstream pop radio.

On top of the increased attention Brave received, it saw an 80% boost in sales the same week as Roar’s release. According to Yahoo’s chart watch, in the week before Roar was released, Brave was posted at #66 with approximately 28,000 downloads. After Perry's single dropped, Brave jumped to #46 with 51,000 digital sales.

So What?:

While it is possible to debate whether or not Bareilles would have a successful copyright claim against Perry, as well as question Perry's/Capitol Records' ethical values, I don't believe that these are the most important elements of these events.

Today's music industry is filled with labels and artists who will take any opportunity to cut down the competition if it means that they can increase their chance for success. However, in the face of controversy, Sara Bareilles proves that holding yourself to a high moral and ethical ground can bring you just as much (if not more) success than malicious tactics.

Instead of attacking Perry, Bareilles found joy in the fact that more empowering music with a positive message is being put out into the world, and finding success. Bareilles proved that she values her personal relationship with Perry, her own integrity, and the good that can come from both of their songs more than her song's performance on the charts. This attitude and approach proved to be a win-win situation for Bareilles, and goes to show that ethical people do exist in an industry that feeds on negative press and her song continues to climb the charts.