Accidental Plagiarising?

[telecode]

For example, a musical about slavery in Montreal was shut down for appropriating 19th century African-American slave songs and having most of the slaves be played by white performers

Way to move the goalpost

You seem to have some kind of agenda even it's just a righteous look on social media. It's obvious you want to amplify something most of us won't experience because maybe we steer clear of such dipshittery.

^^ Just pay him no mind. He/she still lives in 1989.

[jancivil]

"Noelia Cortés, takes issue with what she sees as Rosalía being the only palatable (read: white) version of flamenco"
That whole focus is just wrong-headed. And not actually very interesting. I don't know what that's supposed to do, it's the opposite of elevating awareness.
Some people just seem to want to distract and waste everybody's time and bring shit down to their level.


a John McLaughlin composition

[donkey tugger]

Reggae used to be very popular

I quite like some Reggae myself. Not particularly coming through the floor at 4am like now though..

[Stamped Records]

It shouldn't be a problem. If it sounds familiar to you, harmonise it creatively, or develop it further than the basic motif, push it forward in some way, extend it, be creative in production and it will likely not be recognised anyway.

[StudioDave]

This topic is particularly relevant to me at the moment. I wrote a song (Fair Enough), I put it in the Cafe here, but then the next day I heard a Bob Dylan song that was nearly identical to my melody. So I pulled my tune because I didn't want the comparison. Later I realized that Dylan's song was recognizably related to an earlier Tom Paxton tune, so I reposted my tune. I don't really know where I stand wrt to plagiarizing - I never heard the Dylan song until after I'd written mine, but I do know the Paxton tune, so where does that leave me in the legal arena ?

[telecode]

This topic is particularly relevant to me at the moment. I wrote a song (Fair Enough), I put it in the Cafe here, but then the next day I heard a Bob Dylan song that was nearly identical to my melody. So I pulled my tune because I didn't want the comparison. Later I realized that Dylan's song was recognizably related to an earlier Tom Paxton tune, so I reposted my tune. I don't really know where I stand wrt to plagiarizing - I never heard the Dylan song until after I'd written mine, but I do know the Paxton tune, so where does that leave me in the legal arena ?

well, Bob Dylan is hard one to beat. He only uses three chords and one key.

(Just kidding, i am actually a huge Dylan fan!.)

[Ou_Tis]

This topic is particularly relevant to me at the moment. I wrote a song (Fair Enough), I put it in the Cafe here, but then the next day I heard a Bob Dylan song that was nearly identical to my melody. So I pulled my tune because I didn't want the comparison. Later I realized that Dylan's song was recognizably related to an earlier Tom Paxton tune, so I reposted my tune. I don't really know where I stand wrt to plagiarizing - I never heard the Dylan song until after I'd written mine, but I do know the Paxton tune, so where does that leave me in the legal arena ?

In the case of Bob Dylan and Tom Paxton it's very likely extremely similar to public domain folk melodies (as different from them as your melody is from Dylan or Paxton's). You can do a database search for the melody and variants; a few databases were mentioned in this thread.

If Dylan didn't buy the rights and didn't get sued, and your melody isn't more similar to Paxton's than Dylan's is, you shouldn't worry about it. Just don't claim it's the most original melody ever.

While there are no firm legal rules, a significant difference every four or five notes with different lyrics should almost always definitely be enough, so long as there isn't some wildly original larger structure you're copying or the notes aren't some extraordinarily unusual experimental pattern. If rhythm and other elements are different seven should be fine.

It is concerning that automated copyright enforcement could eventually be extended to recognizing melodies....

[Stamped Records]

Maybe if you stick to a single genre this is more of a problem. If the genre is invisible I see no reason why any two songs can be the same. But then again, there's only so much you can do if you are composing for a single instrument. Folk music, like Dylan, should probably be disregarded in terms of musical copyright, because, although the music is a contribution to the mood, it's not the definiing characteristic of the genre, as Dylan's prize for literature will attest.

[telecode]

Maybe if you stick to a single genre this is more of a problem. If the genre is invisible I see no reason why any two songs can be the same. But then again, there's only so much you can do if you are composing for a single instrument. Folk music, like Dylan, should probably be disregarded in terms of musical copyright, because, although the music is a contribution to the mood, it's not the definiing characteristic of the genre, as Dylan's prize for literature will attest.

Yeah. Bob's has been around a very (VERY!) long time. He used to be a folk artist but I think we can safely say he's a rock artist (been since at least the 70s) and very far removed from the likes of Pete Seeger or Nancy Griffith. He made a few actually very good records in 90s where he returned to this folk roots ("As Good as I Been To You" and "World Gone Wrong") but his catalog is mostly rock music. I was just kidding about the 3 chords. It's taken from an interview he did in Rolling Stone where he claimed all you need to know is three chords to play every single song in the show -- the songs and arrangement on his records vary greatly and use a lot of different stuff.

Love and Theft was a great record. Amazing writer. Thats the problem with modern artists .. they aren't rooted in beatnick poetry like Dylan.

[Stamped Records]

Well, he his hands down the best interpreter of rhythm I've ever heard, no matter how simple the music might appear. Well, actually, it's a toss up between Dylan, Eminem and Aphex Twin, of the western music that I've heard, that is. I'd need to understand what they are all doing in order to judge them, but I don't, so I can't.

[telecode]

Well, he his hands down the best interpreter of rhythm I've ever heard, no matter how simple the music might appear. Well, actually, it's a toss up between Dylan, Eminem and Aphex Twin, of the western music that I've heard, that is. I'd need to understand what they are all doing in order to judge them, but I don't, so I can't.

Aphex Twin is great. Is that the type of electro you trying to make?

[killahpl]

I never heard the Dylan song until after I'd written mine, but I do know the Paxton tune, so where does that leave me in the legal arena ?

Getting spit-roasted by both, I imagine.

[donkey tugger]

I've been idly singing nonsense along with some shoegazer type thing I've written, to get vocal ideas and came up with something and thought, "hmm, that works nicely, but it's quite familiar - some soft rokk/MOR song...?". At first I thought it might be Foreigner, but I've realised it reminded me of, 'In The Air Tonight', by the lad Phil Collins. Still, it's about time tory wankers gave something back..

[rp314]

So, once upon a time Paul Simon teamed up with some musicians from south of here who called themselves Los Incas or something like that and they ended up recording a version of El Condor Pasa which has now become rather well known since it was used in some fairly popular film.

The story goes that Los Incas had heard the tune played as an instrumental and recorded it as being in the public domain before they got together with Simon. The son of the Peruvian opera composer who had written El Condor Pasa only brought suit after Simon's recording but apparently was not aware of the prior recording despite the relative success of the Los Incas version.

Moral of the story: apparently it can happen and, if it does, you might still get away with it unless your recording becomes an international success. And if it somehow does get to that point, it's a civil matter and you get to do the right thing and still make some money having inadvertently stolen someone else's work.

[Drouinjgabriel]

With the number of songs and the limited chord yes and it’s normal