It’s brutal out here: Olivia Rodrigo and how the music business makes songwriters fight over credits

This week on Decoder we are doing something a little different. We're talking with Charlie Harding, co-host of the podcast Switched on Pop a podcast about pop music, about the state of the music industry particularly as it relates to copyright. The conversation is framed around Olivia Rodrigo's debut album Sour and why she keeps handing out songwriting credits months after the album was released. This is kind of a hybrid between an episode of Decoder and an episode of Switched on Pop. We play a lot of music throughout the episode and in case you want to go back and listen to full songs we've made playlists for both Spotify and Apple Music.

Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3nuMTt7

Apple Music - https://apple.co/3986hUw

Links

Olivia Rodrigo Studied All the Right Moves 

https://www.vulture.com/2021/05/olivia-rodrigo-sour-album-review

Why Taylor Swift is rerecording all her old songs https://www.vox.com/culture/22278732/taylor-swift-re-recording-fearless-love-story-master-rights-scooter-braun

Olivia Rodrigo Gives Taylor Swift Songwriting Credit on Second ‘Sour’ Song, ‘Deja Vu’ https://variety.com/2021/music/news/olivia-rodrigo-taylor-swift-songwriting-credit-deja-vu-1235015769/

Olivia Rodrigo Adds Paramore to Songwriting Credits on ‘Good 4 U’

https://variety.com/2021/music/news/olivia-rodrigo-paramore-good-4-u-misery-business-1235048791/

‘Blurred Lines’ Copyright Suit Against Robin Thicke, Pharrell Ends in $5M Judgment https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/robin-thicke-pharrell-williams-blurred-lines-copyright-suit-final-5-million-dollar-judgment-768508/

 

Katy Perry Wins Appeal in ‘Dark Horse’ Infringement Case https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/katy-perry-dark-horse-copyright-win-appeal-969009/

 

Led Zeppelin Wins Long ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Copyright Case https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/arts/music/stairway-to-heaven-led-zeppelin-lawsuit.html

 

Isley Feels Vindicated In Bolton Case https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/78775/isley-feels-vindicated-in-bolton-case

Transcript - https://www.theverge.com/e/22436745

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This episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone, Alexander Charles Adams, and Andrew Marino. We were edited by Callie Wright. And our music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. 

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