Jury: "Starway to Heaven" Written by Page and Plant

Posted Friday, June 24, 2016 by Andrew Charles Huff

Music history will not be rewritten. The classic rock song “Stairway to Heaven” was indeed written by Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page, said a Los Angeles jury in a copyright infringement case. A Los Angeles jury deliberated for about five hours before deciding the band did not steal its most famous licks from another band.

The case centered on claims that Led Zeppelin copied key note patterns in the first two minutes of their hit from a song by the 1960s psychedelic band, Spirit. That song, “Taurus,” is an instrumental ballad released four years prior to “Stairway to Heaven.” The suit was filed for partial song writing credit and compensation by the estate of a deceased Spirit musician, Randy Craig Wolfe.

Copyright cases have resulted in increasing scrutiny – and damages – within the music industry. Condé Nast Portfolio estimated in 2008 that “Stairway to Heaven” had earned more than $562 million in publishing royalties and record sales since it released.

Last year, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were ordered to pay the estate of singer Marvin Gaye $7.4 million after a jury found their song “Blurred Lines” had taken riffs from Gaye’s classic “Got to Give It Up.”