Copyright issues

jeskola · Post by **jeskola** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 9:45 am

If you play the keys from someone elses track in your own music.. i.e say play a simple 1 bar 4 note bassline in your own track with a totally different patch - whats the issues involved?

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 9:57 am

there's two elements to a track's copyright, one is copyright for it's publishing, the other is copyright for it's recording.

if you sample something from a cd, you are affected by the copyright restrictions of the recording and require clearance. if you play it yourself, you are doing a cover and nobody can stop you from doing that, however you may end up needing to follow up with publishing royalties should you make money off your track.

jeskola · Post by **jeskola** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:00 am

Nice,..
but if its played out of context, and so really your not doing a cover - cause say your playing the lead form another song that has say 16 notes in it, you bring it down to 4 and play it as a bassline, with a totally different patch (but played side by side you probably would notice a similarity)- i mena, no ones going to call that cover are they?

Komplex · Post by **Komplex** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:17 am

jeskola wrote:Nice,..
but if its played out of context, and so really your not doing a cover - cause say your playing the lead form another song that has say 16 notes in it, you bring it down to 4 and play it as a bassline, with a totally different patch (but played side by side you probably would notice a similarity)- i mena, no ones going to call that cover are they?

I think ur pretty safe there.

There are only so many notes you can play with and as long as its different sounding in a different context you will be fine.

jahnlay · Post by **jahnlay** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:50 am

There's no copyright on basslines, only on the melody or lyrics of songs.

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 3:59 pm

jahnlay wrote:There's no copyright on basslines, only on the melody or lyrics of songs.

Care to define the difference between a "melody" and a "bassline"?

Chris J · Post by **Chris J** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:17 pm

sweetjesus wrote:there's two elements to a track's copyright, one is copyright for it's publishing, the other is copyright for it's recording.

if you sample something from a cd, you are affected by the copyright restrictions of the recording and require clearance. if you play it yourself, you are doing a cover and nobody can stop you from doing that, however you may end up needing to follow up with publishing royalties should you make money off your track.

A cover is the whole song with no change of structure or lyrics.
All royalties go to composers unless you negociate % for a different arrangement, adaptation.

Re-recording an extract is NOT a cover and requires authorization from publisher AND composers. and negociation in how many % you'll give them.

Chris J · Post by **Chris J** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:24 pm

sqook wrote:
jahnlay wrote:There's no copyright on basslines, only on the melody or lyrics of songs.
Care to define the difference between a "melody" and a "bassline"?

it's true that in all the cases of plagiarism complaints, only the songs that have similar melodies (theme, or vocal line) are considered.
If you play a similar bass line, the author of that bass line may file a complaint but there's (until now and not that I know of) never been a case of a bass line considered as plagiarism.

pepezabala · Post by **pepezabala** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:31 pm

Chris J wrote:
sqook wrote:
jahnlay wrote:There's no copyright on basslines, only on the melody or lyrics of songs.
Care to define the difference between a "melody" and a "bassline"?
it's true that in all the cases of plagiarism complaints, only the songs that have similar melodies (theme, or vocal line) are considered.
If you play a similar bass line, the author of that bass line may file a complaint but there's (until now and not that I know of) never been a case of a bass line considered as plagiarism.

I think I remember that there was a case in the eighties with the "Ghostbusters"-movie-title-track (who sang that one?). Huey Lewis claimed that it was plagiarism from one of his songs ("I need a new drug" if I remember correctly). The similarity between the two songs was mainly the bassline.

But I do not remember the court's decision.

jeskola · Post by **jeskola** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:33 pm

surley "another one bites the dust"
thats what makes the track - the bassline.

the sample is blindingly obviuos.

pepezabala · Post by **pepezabala** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:34 pm

my friend google ...

"With the 1984 release of Ghostbusters, Huey Lewis & the News sued the author of the film title song, Ray Parker Jr.. The suit cited similarities between his theme song and their earlier hit "I Want a New Drug". According to Huey Lewis and the News, this was especially damaging to them since the Ghostbusters theme song was so popular, rising to #1 on the charts for three weeks. The band won the case and Parker Jr. was ordered to pay damages. The band was earlier approached to write the theme song for the movie."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Lewis_and_the_News)

jethrosipho · Post by **jethrosipho** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:43 pm

Ray Parker is the shit. Seriously, check out his guitar playing on Herbie Hancock Secrets.

Chris J · Post by **Chris J** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 5:13 pm

jeskola wrote:surley "another one bites the dust"
thats what makes the track - the bassline.

the sample is blindingly obviuos.

not that one again.

what sample ?

Chris J · Post by **Chris J** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 5:22 pm

pepezabala wrote: I think I remember that there was a case in the eighties with the "Ghostbusters"-movie-title-track (who sang that one?). Huey Lewis claimed that it was plagiarism from one of his songs ("I need a new drug" if I remember correctly). The similarity between the two songs was mainly the bassline.
But I do not remember the court's decision.

it was more than the bassline though, it's the bass line and the synth, and the rhythm, the feel of the song,
I just compared the two, and the bass is actually slightly different.
Huey didn't invent that E /D-A/ E bass line. Gloria from Them had the same and countless others. Amazing that they won though

jeskola · Post by **jeskola** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 5:42 pm

Chris J wrote:
jeskola wrote:surley "another one bites the dust"
thats what makes the track - the bassline.

the sample is blindingly obviuos.
not that one again.

what sample ?

good times - chic