Lana Del Rey says Radiohead is suing her for copyright infringement, and they won’t settle for less than 100% of royalties from the offending song.
On Sunday, Del Rey tweeted that after failed efforts to reach a settlement over purported similarities between her song “Get Free” on the album Lust for Life and Radiohead’s “Creep,” the two parties would have to “deal with it in court.” She said that lawyers for the band declined to accept her offer of 40% of royalties and has denied that her song, which topped charts in the U.S. and U.K. after its July 2017 release, was inspired by the 1992 single.
A spokesperson for Radiohead’s music publisher said Del Rey’s tweet was not accurate.
“It’s true that we’ve been in discussions since August of last year with Lana Del Rey’s representatives. It’s clear that the verses of ‘Get Free’ use musical elements found in the verses of ‘Creep’ and we’ve requested that this be acknowledged in favour of all writers of ‘Creep’,” a Warner/Chappell Music spokesperson said in a statement. “To set the record straight, no lawsuit has been issued and Radiohead have not said they ‘will only accept 100%” of the publishing of ‘Get Free’.’”
This isn’t the first time there has been a dispute over “Creep.” Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood of The Hollies successfully sued Radiohead over the song’s similarities to “The Air That I Breathe.” The pair now share writing credits with the band and receive a portion of the royalties.
Here are the two songs for comparison:
Representatives for Del Rey did not respond to a request for comment.
