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Flame sues Katy Perry for copyright infringement and is awarded $2.7m

Started by Johnny Yesno, August 04, 2019, 08:13:16 PM

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Noodle Lizard

I reckon there's a pretty clear middle-ground with all of this.  For instance, Karma Police having similar piano motifs to Sexy Sadie, but ultimately bearing little else in common, is one thing.  Stairway To Heaven gaining "iconic legend" status (and making a lot of people very rich) despite its most identifiable musical passage being almost identical to one from a band Zeppelin used to tour with is something else entirely.  I think artists should absolutely be able to pursue that - especially when they themselves received virtually no compensation or credit for the original composition.

NoSleep

You'd have to prove absolutely that nobody had ever done the same before you (very difficult). Regarding stealing compositions Led Zeppelin have genuinely stolen far more from other composers than Randy California; check out Dazed and Confused by Jake Holmes (where melody, some lyrics and chords are wholesale stolen) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTsvs-pAGDc settled out of court in 2011 (and credits now state "inspired by Jake Holmes", which is unquestionable).

I'd have taken the Spirit/Led Zeppelin case seriously if it had happened immediately on release of Stairway to heaven, but it wasn't raised until until the two longest standing members of Spirit (one of whom was the composer) had been dead for some time; just some other hungry vultures chasing some money decades after the fact. And, as you can find on youtube if you look around, Spirit weren't even the first to use that arpeggiated chord sequence (it being present in pieces by J.S.Bach et al). None of these cases hold water because it's all been done before; it's how you make music.

That's what I would like to see. Every time one of these bogus cases comes up between two parties; let everyone else who has used that same snippet before the plaintiff rise up and threaten to sue them if they don't step down. It's idiotic.

Noodle Lizard

In the Zeppelin/Spirit case, it's more the fact that the Zeppelin members almost definitely heard that song countless times years before making their own.  I could understand it happening by accident, but it really doesn't seem that way.  Whether or not the original composers went after them for whatever reason, I think it'd be fair for them to have done so.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: NoSleep on August 15, 2019, 09:29:57 PM
You'd have to prove absolutely that nobody had ever done the same before you (very difficult). Regarding stealing compositions Led Zeppelin have genuinely stolen far more from other composers than Randy California; check out Dazed and Confused by Jake Holmes (where melody, some lyrics and chords are wholesale stolen) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTsvs-pAGDc settled out of court in 2011 (and credits now state "inspired by Jake Holmes", which is unquestionable).

Page started off claiming he'd never heard the Holmes version, ignoring that Holmes had played with the Yardbirds and the band had bought a copy of his album the day after that show. And when the Yardbirds played it themselves, it was a straight cover version, etc. And then Page made the laughable claim "Usually my riffs are pretty damn original" when he's the poster boy for ripping people off and refusing to give credit until he's sued.

McFlymo

That motif "ah ah ah" thing has been in popular hip hop music for years and years. Along with that big sub kick groove.

This case is absolutely bananas, it's like trying to sue someone for having a 4/4 kick followed by an off-beat open hi-hat. All disco, house and techno music: IN THE SLAMMER!!!

I think there are certain riffs and specific moments in pop songs that are immediately identifiable and therefore easier to attribute to an author, but this type of club music, which is nearly always entirely produced with samples, drum machines and synths, (i.e. zero "real world" instruments played by musicians) goes round and round in circles it's ridiculous to try and claim ownership over any of it, outside of perhaps some lyrics, but even then... I'm not buying it.

What are the original elements of this music? I think that's why I really struggle with it so much. I hear a Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Britney Gaga, Lavinge, Clarkson song and I just hear "aaah preset club song backing track #32586 this week, interesting... What interesting original take will this week's pop diva favourite lay on top of this?" then feel my soul pour down the drain as the singer's auto-tuned into nothing AI voice says absolutely fuck all over it.

Shit For Cunts the lot of it!

But yes, I do worry this sort of case will be like a "false flag" to start a backlash of people saying, "Hey! You can't copyright stuff like that!!" which will undermine any sort of public interest in the topic, which will give all the big corporate record labels absolute carte blanche to essentially own all sound. Wooo hoooo!! Desolation.


momatt

She has always seemed like an utter bell-end to me.

I hope she gets put in prison.