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Be careful out there, avoid plagiarism.

7K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  QuestionAsker 
#1 ·
#2 ·
Accusations of musical plagiarism are so often ridiculous, as are the legal courts that validate these complaints. Props to Elvis for shrugging off recent claims that another musician stole his riff:


Honestly, where would folk, jazz, or hip hop be if it weren't for the constant borrowings, improvised citations, standards, and general sharing of inspirations? And what would Courtney Love be without Patti Smith, Kate Bush, or Echo and the Bunnymen?

A very limited understanding of artistic "originality," one tied directly to individual property and profits, might be what ultimately distinguishes pop music.
 
#3 ·
I settled a copyright suit out of court with a big name band for a high 5 figure amount. The song in question hit #4 on the pop charts back in the 80's (back when record sales were a lucrative business) - The album went gold. I probably could have won more in court but it's a gamble. I was able to prove the band had access to the tune and I had a copyright. The only possible issue was how drastically they changed the song, but the hook was the same.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for sharing your story, it's rare to meet people that have gone through that experience (at least it seems to me).

Just curious, how were you able to prove the band had access to the tune? It always seemed to me like something so difficult to prove in these cases.

Alas, the law doesn't always support the artist. In the tragic case of saxophonist Greg Ham, the courts favoured a rights holding company over the musicians, as I understand it. Even if the judgment was legally correct, it certainly seem unfair and unethical.
Do you know why the musicians lost out in this case? Did they fail to register their works in a certain way?

Fwiw, I think adding to this old thread was the right way to go.
It's funny how these situations work…like the Tom Petty and Marvin Gaye (artists and now estates) choosing which offenders to pursue legal action against (Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran…) and leaving others alone (The Strokes, RHCP, John Mayer…).
I also wonder about this. Is it indeed because they were on the same label? Or did the plaintiffs just like those bands more vs Sam Smith, Sheeran, etc?

(PS - I created a thread with a few questions on copyright if anyone would like to help out a noobie songwriter :) )
 
#4 ·
I'm sure Elvis can afford to ignore that, plus it maybe makes him look good. But I for one am glad that we have copyright laws and that courts do take them seriously. When your livelihood depends on intellectual property protection you get a different perspective on these things. But id do understand the other side of the coin when people feel aggrieved because it's against the law to share digital files if there is a rightsholder.

I sipoouse it's a double edged sword. Yes there is a lot of cross fertoilistaion of ideas and concepts in many genres, but out and out stealing of significant original creation is bad.
 
#5 ·
IP definitely needs to be protected, but Zoot is entirely right that courts are sometimes ill-equipped to make rational judgments about what constitutes plagiarism. The knowledge for putting the issue in a proper context is specialized and rare, and in my experience the average Joe often finds a great deal of similarity where a knowledgeable person may not.
 
#7 · (Edited)
This was really really tragic, however it was not a case of big bad publisher vs musician and publisher winning purely because of being favoured asa rights holder. The losing defendant was also a rightsholder, Sony/BMG

These case are probably very rarely rightsholder vs musician because without a publisher, any musician would just have to settle.
 
#8 ·
Another zombie thread. In general, plagiarism is often neither intentional nor accidental but unavoidable. In the case of Gary Moore, he was cutting it very close on a few occasions, see Parisian Walkways vs. Blue Bossa. I mean, I love the guy, one of my top 5 guitar players ever but if you get caught, you need to fix it one way or the other.
 
#13 ·
And then there's this theory: There are only 12 notes - and only a limited number of those notes sound good in combined.

….every melody that's pleasing to the ear has already been written…
"Would I had phrases that are not known, utterances that are strange, in new language that has not been used, free from repetition, not an utterance which has grown stale, which men of old have spoken."

- Kkakheperresenb the Scribe, in a papyrus from 200 B.C.
 
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