So Madonna’s song Frozen has been banned from Belgium. Not because of its implicit criticisms of the European policy on climate change, but rather that she has lost a plagiarism case on the song in the Belgian courts. Apparently it sounds a fair bit like Ma vie fout l’camp by Belgian songwriter Salvatore Acquavita. And he thought his life was going nowhere!
The big questions that arise from this case are:
a) Where can I hear a copy of Acquaviva’s work to judge for myself?
b) What kind of power does the Belgian court have to enforce the removal of this song from the album?
c) What exactly was Madge doing in the 90’s? Hanging around bars in Belgium it would appears, waiting for one great song: especially considering that Frozen is probably one of her best 90’s tracks.
One wonders if the prevalence of mp3’s may also allow the courts an alternative action. ie: A search and destroy function in i-Tunes which would initially completely wipe the existence of the song, much like the Chinese completely wiped the existence of their global voyages in 1421.