Song protection (plagiarism)

[Greeny]

Everytime I hear the latest Green Day song '21 Guns', I find myself singing 'All the Young Dudes'.... 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9_6MDTkRew

[Greeny]

My 9 yr old son was listening to 'Lets Dance' by David Bowie, and realised the intro was just like this... 

Bowie got there first though!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IWKhYQarJU

[Greeny]

Sorry, back on track... there's nothing anyone can do to avoid being ripped off to some degree. Big, established stars will do it by hiding behind their flashy lawyers, but will those same lawyers be looking out for their welfare at 3am in a dark alley?! There's no telling what a disgruntled person might do if they catch the culprit who plaigarised them...

[cuthbert]

Re: 'Bob The Builder' - I also hear The Isley Brothers & The Beatles ('Twist and Shout'). 

[launched]

Everytime I hear the latest Green Day song '21 Guns', I find myself singing 'All the Young Dudes'.... 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9_6MDTkRew

I think Billy Joe was ripping of the Billy Idol sneer more than Mott the Hoople, don't you think?? What a goober...

[launched]

Getting back on point
there is nothing to keep these superstar vultures or any one else for that matter, from ripping us off

Sorry - I suppose we ripped this post off But seriously, I agree that there is not much anyone can do to prevent someone from leaning on another series of notes.

I did post links earlier that had info in them to help protect your music - Discussions here from other member's past posts.

I guess Mozart and Beethoven wrote everything already anyway...

[Ferryman]

Hi all,

There's definitely a huge influence on Come As You Are by KJ's Eighties. Nirvana knew it (there were concerns about releasing the song) although whether it was subliminal or explicit we will never know, as KJ never pushed any copyright infringement to court (varying reports as to why). But Dave Grohl ended up playing drums on KJ's excellent 2003 album (just called "Killig Joke"). He had been a big KJ fan as a youngster.

Killing Joke were a huge influence on me, saw them several times and just loved all their stuff. Jaz Coleman is as mad as a brush but a superb front man, real stage presence. And Geordie's guitar sound is to die for.

Cheers,

Nigel

[assassin]

love the killing joke connection - i love killing joke
---their first release was best -- turn to red .


ta

[SteveG]

At the risk of re-hijacking the thread, nobody will ever convince me that Sting did not catch a gig by these guys before forming the Police .... second song, starts about 2.45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_xARjLD_nI

[64Guitars]

i think similarities don't make a song a rip off- at least i dont believe someone for eg like Sting, set out to write a tune and goes thru their record collection to get song progressions-maybe i'm just naive
when i listen closely i do hear what your saying tho Tim
Somebody like Sting has a large body of work that may suggest that he is quite capable of writing music
I am no way an apologist for Sting (I do like the Police)
But just seems unnecessary for him to blatantly rip off leo sayer.
it is feasable tho i have to admit

I agree completely, Ron. I can't believe that any serious musician would take someone else's song, change the words, and then call it their own work. Maybe a sleazy record company exec would do it ("Here's a new song we want you to record, Britney"), but not a musician like Sting. I think it just happens unintentionally. We've all listened to lots of music in our lifetime, and that music has a huge influence on our own writing, even if we don't always see it. It's inevitable that some chord progressions, licks, and riffs that we've heard will find their way into our songs without us even realizing it.

I remember one time when I was a kid learning to play the guitar. I was messing around one day and came up with a simple little lead that I thought sounded amazing. I played it over and over to memorize it (I had no recorder back then). Then, a few weeks later, I was listening to the radio and I heard "my" lead being played as the intro to a new song called "Pictures of Matchstick Men" which I was hearing for the first time. It's inconceivable that Status Quo stole my lead (and impossible), and I know that I didn't steal it from them. I had never heard "Pictures of Matchstick Men" until a few weeks after I came up with that lead. So, it could have been a coincidence. But I think it's more likely that I unknowingly heard the song playing in the background somewhere while I was talking to someone or had my mind on something else, so I wasn't consciously aware of the song but it seeped into my subconscious and laid dormant until the day that I came up with that lead on my guitar.

Then there's the ridiculous lawsuit where George Harrison was accused of stealing The Chiffons' "He's So Fine" and using it for his recording of "My Sweet Lord". I mean, come on! George Harrison was one of the most brilliant and prolific songwriters of our time. He had no need to steal other people's songs. I have no doubt that any similarities between "My Sweet Lord" and "He's So Fine" were completely innocent and came from his subconscious or just coincidence. If someone had pointed out the similarity to him earlier, I'm sure he would have either scrapped the song or come up with any even better chord progression. But he probably wasn't aware of any similarities until the lawsuit.