Nickelback Sued by Texas Musician Over ‘Rockstar’ Copyright

Nickelback was sued in Texas federal court Friday by a guitarist and songwriter who says the Canadian band ripped off his song “Rock Star” for its 2005 hit of the same name.

The complaint said Nickelback’s “Rockstar” copied “substantial portions of the tempo, song form, melodic structure, harmonic structures, and lyrical themes” from Kirk Johnston’s song, both of which are about are about wanting to be rock stars.

“Ironically, Nickelback’s Rockstar even includes a lyrical reference to the common industry practice of using unknown songwriters to ghost write songs for popular bands, and then taking credit for such songs (i.e., ...