On September 18, 2017, songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler filed a lawsuit against Taylor Swift in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Hall and Butler are the co-authors of the 2000 song “Playas Gon’ Play” which was recorded by the girl group 3LW. Their complaint alleges that Taylor Swift’s 2014 hit song “Shake it Off” copied “Playas Gon’ Play.”
A copy of the complaint is available here.
Unlike the recent barrage of music copyright lawsuits, this lawsuit does not claim that the melody, “hook,” or other musical elements were copied. Rather, this lawsuit claims that Swift’s song copied the plaintiffs’ lyrics.
“Playas Gon’ Play” contains the following lyrical phrase:
“Playas, they gonna play / And haters, they gonna hate.”
The plaintiffs claim that Taylor Swift infringed their song by using the following lyrical phrase in “Shake it Off”:
“Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”
Continue reading ““Haters Gonna Hate, Hate . . . .” Can Taylor Swift “Shake it Off”?”