Originally Posted by Mark Kaufman
There was a time when I thought musical copyright only applied to lyrics and melody. But looking at a lot of the cases tried, it's clearly about more than that. The Katy Perry lawsuit over her song "Dark Horse" was lost because of the synth riff...which I guess is melodic...but it seems odd to me that you can't do that, but you CAN write unlimited blues songs with the exact same structure and similar melodies.

Than there's Led Zeppelin. This isn't the first time they've been accused of lifting other people's stuff...I don't think an album went by without them re-writing and rocking up a blues classic with basically the same lyrics and claiming it as their own, entirely. Here's a good list: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/led-zeppelins-10-boldest-rip-offs-223419/

I don't know where the line should be drawn, but Zeppelin definitely liked to push the boundaries further than any other band I can recall.


I guess a riff is considered a melody. If you take most of the classic riffs of all time.... Smoke on the Water, Back In Black, Brown Sugar, etc, youd be sued instantly if you took it note for note, or even close. But if you took "In the Still Of the Night" there are so many songs that sound exactly like it.

I think true original music is rare, but I think without copyright protection, why create anything?

There's way more to songs than melody and lyric. if you remove The Beatles voices and performances and arrangements, and had somebody else do them, they will not come close to being as great. It will sound good probably and be enjoyed by many, but wont be as iconic.

Creativity is in all parts of music, why cant Stewart Copeland copyright his drum beats? He has some amazing beats. Why cant some vocal groups copyright their harmony structure. Why cant somebody copyright a guitar sound they formulated and made popular? I could find the sounds on Guitar Rig to any classic tune and use it, why arent the creators of such things protected. Even a production technique, why cant wall of sound be protected, if a melody can.

its all creativity, from the notes you use to support a melody to the sounds you use, to the style.

HOW COME!

Last edited by Fdemetrio; 08/05/19 02:02 PM.