Copyright and the Creative Process

I saw this interesting piece on techdirt.com.   It discusses the fact that musician Ed Sheeran has taken to video recording all of his songwriting sessions.  Sheeran is apparently a little gun shy, having been a defendant in several copyright suits over his compositions.  I wrote about this back in 2016.   Sheeran has been sued in two different suits over the contention that his “Thinking Out Loud” song infringes the copyright on the Marvin Gaye song “Let’s Get It On.”

The techdirt piece worries that the current glut of copyright suits over musical compositions will hamper the creative process.  Is anyone as creative in a fishbowl?  That is an interesting question.  The copyright law is supposed to foster creativity by protecting works that emerge from the creative process.  It would indeed be ironic if it actually stifles that process.