John Lewis promises a charitable donation after “ripping off a version of a song used in a Christmas ad”

John Lewis pledged to make a large donation to charity after he was accused of ripping out a version of a folk duo song that was used in her Christmas ad.

The head of the retailer agreed to donate an undisclosed amount after a plagiarism dispute threatened to undermine his holiday advertising campaign.

It comes after The Portraits, a husband and wife duo from Somerset, gained the support of attorney Pink Floyd.

Musicians Lorraine and Jeremy Millington have requested a version of the 1985 hit Together and Electric Dreams used in this year’s John Lewis campaign – which tells the story of a boy who befriends a stranger – is similar to an arrangement issued last year for charity.

The couple said they emailed marketing manager John Lewis in March suggesting the song could be used for a Christmas ad, but they didn’t respond.

They were then shocked to learn that the ad featured a version of a song by 20-year-old musician Lola Young.

John Lewis pledged to make a large donation to charity after he was accused of ripping off a version of a folk duo song used in her Christmas ad (pictured)

John Lewis vehemently denies plagiarism, but after a week of talks with the cast last night, he announced “substantial” donations to Mind, a mental health charity and Cruse Bereavement Care, which are receiving profits from a version of the song The Portraits.

“Portraits and I share common interests in our love of song and our commitment to charities,” a spokesman said.

‘We are delighted to be able to donate to selected Portraits charities.’

The portraits received free advice from Andrew Gummer, a lawyer who is part of Pink Floyd’s management team. “I feel bad for going against John Lewis,” he said. ‘I adore John Lewis and they are very decent people. But we could have done it better.’

The Portraits released their version of a song for Christmas last year that featured the vocals of their 14-year-old daughter Ciara to raise money for families affected by Covid-19.

Guy Protheroe, a musicologist and ‘copyright troubleshooter’, provided the group with an audio file that played both versions of the song at the same time.

“All it takes to match is to move a John Lewis song one tone up, which is a very basic adjustment,” he said.

John Lewis commissioned his own musicologist, who said he “could not identify any significant evidence of copying from The Portraits arrangement.”

The retailer added: “Our version of Electric Dreams is the original cover, properly authorized by our advertising agency, which provided the copyright licenses of the original publishers of the song on our behalf. A brand like ours would never copy another title version. ‘

The Portraits are now planning to re-release their single, and on page B will be their version of Ed Sheeran’s 2014 hit Photograph.

“What an outstanding result it would be for the single to reach number one for Christmas in honor of everyone we lost in this country,” the duo said.