I’d be willing to bet you’ve heard Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven more than once. It’s, maybe, the most popular rock ‘n’ roll song of all time by one of the most successful rock bands of all time.
And a band that you’ve probably never heard of, called Spirit, says Led Zeppelin stole the concept of the song from them.
Listen to Taurus below. About 44 seconds in, you hear the similarities.
It’s there. There’s definite inspiration. And Led Zeppelin lifted many elements from many different artists over the years, so it’s no far-fetched accusation. They’ve settled a handful of lawsuits in which they’ve had to pay royalties or give credit to others.
There’s nothing wrong with pursuing some form of legal compensation. But, money and credit after the fact can never change the fact that someone else took the best part(s) of one idea, put it in the right context, in front of the right people at the right time, and nailed it.
Idea Execution
Taurus was released before Stairway to Heaven—we could say it was first to market. And, at that time, Spirit was a bigger band than Led Zeppelin was. They had a platform.
Yet, the song just isn’t that interesting. There’s 43 long seconds of synth at the beginning. The guitar is washed out. The riff doesn’t evolve the same way, and the main melodies of the songs are significantly different.
It’s not the riff; it’s the song.
It’s not the idea; it’s the execution.
Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who implement them are priceless.
This Side of Jealousy
Think about this: would we even have Stairway to Heaven if Taurus had never been played? The fact that Spirit wrote that song and played it means that we have eight minutes of glorious, epic rock music from Led Zeppelin to enjoy.
The world benefitted from Taurus. That ought to be celebrated and appreciated. Instead, inspiration has been made into thievery, and nothing can be celebrated because there’s a victim.
Listen, if you put your idea out there, and don’t execute perfectly, someone will take it and make it better. And when they do, they might make a lot of money. They might get famous. They might not ever mention that it was your idea.
But, if you believe your idea is worth pursuing, then you have to believe the world is better off because you pursued it—even if someone takes it and makes it better. In fact, if someone can take your idea and make it better, isn’t that, well, better?
The only reason it wouldn’t be is because you’re jealous. You’re jealous that someone took some arrangement of thoughts you had in your head and combined them with thoughts they had and made a better version of your idea into reality. Jealous because you pursued something and got burned, but they didn’t.
If you can get past jealousy, you can see that you’ve made an impact in the world. If you can get in front of jealousy so that it never occurs, you might be able to be a part of it, instead.
Being Open
You can get in front of that jealousy by openly sharing ideas. You can try to find those other people who might have the input to make it better. You can take on the risk of someone potentially “taking your idea” because the reward is better execution.
Sharing ideas openly is a fundamental part of entrepreneurship… I don’t understand people who are so secretive about their “killer” idea…
— John Saddington (@saddington) March 18, 2014
Share openly and seek collaboration. If your idea is as good as you think it is, and you’re the one to execute, you’ll nail it better than anyone else. Jealousy (or setting the stage for it) can keep you from that. Help put an end to entrepreneurial paranoia.