Drumbeats Intellectual Property?

[Gnasty]

Mad subject really....

     If a drumbeat is 'intellectual property', then surely so is a guitar chord, or sequence of. And yet literally thousands and thousands of songs contain the same patterns, beats, basslines etc. These are the 'building blocks' of songs. It's how it all comes together at the end that distinguishes one song from another. 'Save Tonight', by Eagle Eye Cherry and 'If God Was One Of Us' by that bird who I once used a toilet cubicle after, are essentially the same song. I remember a few years ago Public Enemy and NWA going through the same argument over who 'owns' a beat. Who 'owns' the G-C-D sequence?

I`m not liking his thread now. Henwrench said it best!

We already know Drummer+Ego = Asshole

This will turn into:

Drummer+Ego+Music credit+Money = Communist Asshole trying to take over the world

[Ferryman_1957]

Drum beats when they are packaged as individual items have IP, as in loops or drum tracks. They have no IP as part of a song, only the work in its entirety has IP. It is up to the composers to decide who gets the writing credit, ie would a drummer get part of the writing royalty for a song. Ringo didn't on most Beatles tracks for example. Also, if the drum beats were the main element of a song, then if these were copied the original artist might argue you were copying their work. For example, Men At Work lost a copyright case because the melody of one of their songs was very similar to the melody of an older Australian folk song even though the songs sounded very different.

Cheers,

Nigel

[OsCKilO]

Mad subject really....

     If a drumbeat is 'intellectual property', then surely so is a guitar chord, or sequence of. And yet literally thousands and thousands of songs contain the same patterns, beats, basslines etc. These are the 'building blocks' of songs. It's how it all comes together at the end that distinguishes one song from another. 'Save Tonight', by Eagle Eye Cherry and 'If God Was One Of Us' by that bird who I once used a toilet cubicle after, are essentially the same song. I remember a few years ago Public Enemy and NWA going through the same argument over who 'owns' a beat. Who 'owns' the G-C-D sequence?

                                         

I thought that...

Especially after this...






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpB_40hYjXU

[OsCKilO]

But then again....

I met the Guy that sequenced this...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krps2ok4smc

Tune is unique...  all beats.... Drum n Bass / Junglist....
it was the first to sound like this (to my knowledge...)


I'd say this is intellectual property...

[Geir]

It's quite an interesting question. But even the most famous drumbeat in the (western) world can hardly be considered as IP:


But it spawns another question for me: how many succesive notes from a melody can you borrow before it's stealing? Let's say I'd use the 5 notes in the Nokia startup tune in the middle of a melody I made, would I be sued? What if I change the rhythm? If I reverse it ?

[OsCKilO]

The concept of IP seems to put a tax on hard earned knowledge and skill.

It also limits creativity! What if someone else could have done a better job with the melody. If it happens, the recording will be underground if not commissioned..


Sad really..... 

But with all this said, someone has to protect the interests of people who make a living out of genuine talent..

Tough line to draw...
A line necessitated by money.