“Blurred Lines”: The Long Game of Musical Inspiration, Borrowing, and Infringement

Friends of African-American Art & Culture (FAAAC), a Columbia Museum of Art membership affiliate, is hosting a public lecture entitled ‘Playing Outside the “Blurred Lines”: The Long Game of Musical Inspiration, Borrowing, and Infringement’ on Tuesday, June 16, 2015. 

The lecture, which is part of the FAAAC annual meeting, begins 6:00 pm and will be held in the Alexander Lorick Auditorium at the Columbia Museum of Art. The lecture is free for FAAAC members and $5 for nonmembers.

Dr. Birgitta Johnson will lead a discussion on the confusion in the music business over what is protected by copyright law and what is not. In her lecture, she will analyze Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams’ copyright infringement of Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to Give It Up,” when Thicke and Williams created their 2013 smash “Blurred Lines.”  

Dr. Johnson teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in world music, African American music, African music, and ethnomusicology. She received her Bachelors of Arts in Music from Agnes Scott College where she played piano (major), violin (principal second), Ghanaian drums and sang in Joyful Noise Gospel Choir. Johnson received her Masters and Doctorate degrees in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles where she worked with Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, Cheryl L. Keyes, and Francisco Aguabella in African American and African music, and Afro-Cuban music and drumming.

For more information on the lecture, call 803-477-1082 or email kiosha@digitizemarketing.com.