It's a brush that is largely used to paint those in the entertainment industry - especially the film and music branches.
In some cases, usually in movies, it's quite clear when a film is ripping off another area, or paying homage to it, if those behind it own up to it / use only a slight aspect.
In music, it becomes a bit harder as voices have a tendency to mimic what they here, so any new music in the same genre will sound similar. Fashion and clothing, or the supposed individuality of character they can represent can also merge with another artist - it's seen all the time in cliques or sub-cultures.
A slight overlap can be allowed then.
But when the overlap is too great? A few years back, the subject of Avril Lavigne copying songs made it onto BBC News. The year after, there were claims that Miley Cyrus copied Avril. It's likely that someone will have copied Cyrus by now. In some cases, this is due to music sounding alike, if not identical - an odd point here is that I've never heard it said that Will Smith copied anyone, despite most of his famous songs being set to other people's music. If not the backing track, the voices sound alike, or the subject of the songs are the same. Or we have the ubiquitous individuality of appearence. Even amongst the sets renowned for appearing similar.
Youtube plays host to hundreds, if not thousands or more, of videos comparing artists, videos, films etc.
One of the most enjoyable, largely due to the song it's set to, can be viewed below:
This was inspired by a dispute I oversaw where there were claims that Jessie J has been impeaching upon Katy Perry.
Domino can be seen here: (or a live video which shows the merging of image more clearly can be found here)
and Last Friday Night can be compared here:
The music is the point of the comparison, but the videos compare well too.
Jessie J has a more serious / deep voice than Katy Perry and contrasts nicely. It would be nice to see a duet by them. Their voices match up the same way that I think Lana Del Rey and Paloma Faith's do.
Lana:
Paloma:
Both have similar assurance and inflection, but they sing with such individual distinction that a merger of them both would be quite aurally interesting.
