December 9, 2008

Coldplay Deny Plagiarism Accusation, Get Dissed By Reuters

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mojo-photo-coldplaysatriani.jpgThey just can’t win. As reported here on Friday, UK ballad-producers and castoff-military-gear-sporters Coldplay had their highest-profile plagiarism accusation to date when guitarist Joe Satriani filed suit against the band, saying they’d ripped off one of his songs. Well, Coldplay have responded, calling any resemblance between “Viva La Vida” and Satriani’s “If I Could Fly” “entirely coincidental”:

“If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him,” the band said in a posting on its website.

“Joe Satriani is a great musician, but he did not write or have any influence on the song ‘Viva La Vida.’ We respectfully ask him to accept our assurances of this and wish him well with all future endeavours.”

So, take that, right? But Reuters can’t help but have some fun, describing the band in a way that’s gotta make Chris Martin wince:

Coldplay, whose soaring atmospheric tunes have been unfavourably compared to those of U2, brushed off the allegations.

“Unfavourably”? Is that really necessary? I mean, yes, totally, but that doesn’t seem like, you know, reporting. But hey, if Reuters says it, it must be a fact. Either way, it’s a good excuse for me to run my cute Photoshop collage again.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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