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The Music Machine presents Pop Plagiarism, I'm Sure I've Heard That Before
Hi everyone
We’ve had a few very interesting musical themes over the past few weeks and this one is fascinating.
Have you been listening to a new song, and you’ve thought, “I know that song from somewhere?” Well, chances are, you probably have heard it previously. With only a small number of musical notes and chords to choose from, it’s no wonder that someone hasn’t subconsciously copied something from a musical composition. But doing so can get you into some legal hot water.
That’s what happened in one of the most famous cases of copyright infringement concerning the Chiffons “He’s So Fine” and George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord”. It resulted in a court case spanning 20 years. But there are many such instances, and we’ll be exploring them together during this week’s Music Machine.
For example, imagine you are the well-known Pop Stars Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen. Don’t think for one moment you can sing, “WO O O O O O O O” in a particular way. You can’t, it’s under copyright, and you could be sued for close to a million dollars. That’s what happened. Men at Work also came up against a Kookaburra when they composed their song “Down Under”. And, don’t think this is a new phenomenon. I have a good example from the early 60’s.
In fact, there are two songs from the modern day pop charts which sound remarkably similar in every respect, down to the way each begins, the instrumentation, the verses and the choruses. So given the modern technology we have here, I've placed them side by side so you can really understand what this is all about.
As I say it’s a fascinating subject, and we’ll explore it much more this Saturday at 2 PM Eastern, 7 PM UK, on www.the-bell.net.
I hope you can join me!
Brian Hartgen
