Blog
New Compulsory License & The USPTO Green Paper Roundtable at Vanderbilt Law School - May 21, 2014
A Compulsory License to Sample Master Recordings is a very good idea. A fair, respectful and business-happy aspect of this license would be that a recording MUST be at least ten (10) years old. That way, the recording has had ample time to be sold in its original form, sales of the original recording have greatly decreased (or stopped), a new version will draw attention to the original version, the public has more art and options, and money will be generated from the rebirth of a 10 year old recording.
Tracing The Origins Of Blues Songs: Culture Or Copying?
Many songs' origins can be traced to earlier sources and often specific authorship, or authorship as a mighty fortress that had to exert its mighty power, was a foreign concept. Ideas and the expressions of ideas are often regarded as benevolent entities and means by which a society builds its culture.
The Beatles - 21 Songs For 7 Reasons
To continue from the last post - humanists will still want to save the world with “All You Need Is Love,” “Let It Be,” and “The Word,” optimists will be optimistic with “Good Day Sunshine,” “It’s Getting Better,” and “Here Comes The Sun,” lovers of love songs will sing “If I Fell,” “And I Love Her,” and “I Will,” community activists will be inspired by “With A Little Help From My Friends,” “We Can Work it Out,” and “All Together Now,” weddings will still feature “Something,” “In My Life,” and “When I’m Sixty-Four,” divorcees will be haunted by “Carry That Weight,” I’m A Loser,” and “Hello Goodbye,” and critics will still argue over the meanings of “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and “I Am The Walrus.”
Why Would An Artist Re-Record Portions Of Her/His Own Music?
I want to briefly explore the different means, causes and reasons why music is re-recorded. As always, I welcome readers' input. So far, I have been able to identify more than one dozen reasons to re-record music. This might be tantamount to saying, "more than one dozen categories of re-recorded music." I'm not ready to shout out, "Here is the definitive list of how, why, what, where and when music is re-recorded." For now, this is just a beginning and an interesting pursuit into an area of creativity and originality.
Wish Lantern on Love Circle, Newtown & Sandy Hook, Merry Christmas, Kill City Space Ship & Invasions are Not Just For Aliens Anymore
I was honored to have music and video composed to honor my 40th blog post. Quite unexpected but really cool. It is the work of Kill City Spaceship and is entitled Mike's Fortieth Blog. This music was composed based on the great E G# C F# A opening chord of the Beatles' song, "All I've Got To Do." Kill City Spaceship informed me that the music composed to honor my blog post was based on that E 11 #5 chord and its four (4) inversions. Composing a work based on a musical motif, which involves compositional technique and development, is too often unknown to the general public, and foreign to the world of pop songwriting. But just as musical styles can overlap, so too shouldn't theories of music and composition.
Best Chord Ever - Part 1 - The Beatles "All I've Got To Do"
Listen to the first sounds, i.e., the first chord, in this Beatles song:Beatles - All I've Got To DoThe chord has no business being here. Or in any pop song. Could this chord be heard in jazz? I don't think Ornette Coleman would use this chord. I don't think Thelonious Monk would have either. Cecil Taylor? Maybe Cecil Taylor would use it. Early Weather Report? Yes, maybe. I could imagine this chord/hear this chord in "Vertical Invader" from side 2, song 1 of Weather Report's second album, I Sing The Body Electric. The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Eminem and Kanye - nope, they wouldn't use it. The Beatles used it. Once and only once. The chord is used only at the opening. Never again in any Beatles song. Not in outtakes, bootlegs. Nowhere.
Uncopyrightable introductions - Part 2, William Shatner obliquely, Martha Stewart to me
I should add that I feel that Sandals.com consciously, carefully and deliberately copied the intro to Beatles' Getting Better. Sandals.com did not accidentally derive this introduction, or independently create their introduction. Some composer labored over this...I am trying to establish that one can copy INTENTIONALLY without infringing copyright. Sandals.com copied The Beatles and it was not copyright infringement. I think a statement like "one can copy INTENTIONALLY without infringing copyright" could be controversial.
Love Street, A Century of Women on Top, TimeHop, Mikasa
Three years ago today I wrote -"With today's copyright laws, most great composers - Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Stravinsky, Ives, etc. - would be as criminal as Girl Talk, Negativland, the Evolution Control Committee or anyone who finds creative preexisting elements and uses them."I still agree. I'm even more fervent about that.
How NOT To Write Great Music - Part 2
NOW, here are the final five (5) steps:7. make sure that there are no chords (and, therefore, no chord changes) in the entire song8. make sure that the principal solo instrument in the song is an instrument that is not a preferred one – it should be an instrument that the audience for this song does not especially like.9. make sure that this song has appeal to U. S. and international audiences10. make sure that the subject matter of the lyrics is about a person who has no redeeming qualities11. make sure that this is not a love songTo repeat and expand from yesterday's post...Do you think the final five (#7 - #11) constructs/stipulations are good advice for a songwriter? For a composer?