JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Stairway Lawsuit

This is a question only modern (Westernized) people could ask.

Creativity in and of itself is part of what it means to be human. Certainly it's at the top of the Maslovian hierarchy of needs and is only a concern after food, shelter, etc. have been met.*

http://austinhillshaw.com/creativit...-leap-from-lack-to-creative-fulfillment/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs


But still, in this our modern age, without SOME outlet for creativity, suicide rates would more than likely skyrocket, with a "loss of (life's) meaning" at the center and the recurring pattern in the suicides.

And in non-Western cultures, music is less ego driven and more driven by community and spirituality.

But in ours and European societies, and all cultures transformed by The Internet and social media (most of them at this point!), we have "designated receptacles" for our creativity like music, art, literature, and moving visuals, that can be copyrighted but also have "natural" protection from theft. Meaning that if you can prove you wrote the damn thing, that will probably be good enough in a court of law.

Before the modern age, In the world of rural musics, folk, blues, etc..the practice of sharing was commonplace. Rural society at least seemed less ego driven and more about standing on the shoulders of elders and building something, watching something grow and participating in that growth..

Back to Led Zep..

They took advantage of people who were making music at the tail end of this less ego-driven way of doing things, like bluesmen Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson, Sonnyboy Williamson, and folkies like Bert Jansch and Joan Baez.

And as Brian pointed out earlier, the whole process of theft can evolve organically and innocently enough, simply by getting together with bandmates and jamming. "What'll we play" "I dunno..I learned this cool new Howlin Wolf lick.." (begins to play lick..exciting the singer to recall another bluesman's words)..and then...MAGIC HAPPENS....and then attempts are made to transform the words and music into something else..but no magic...so....

--I am not excusing this practice, but it's the basic foundation of how many bands create, when they get together without an agenda..

As a composer, my main love, currently, is the act of transforming existing "works" or pieces of audio into completely different things that are only remotely connected. I say this just so you understand that I am not theoretically opposed to the act of creating derivative works from existing works. I think it's basically what we are all doing anyway, in varying degrees.


Mike