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Preying On Songwriters, My Winter Vacation & Re-Gifting
H E R E I S T H E P R O B L E M A S I S E E I TSometimes the songwriter's team members are playing for a different team, or perhaps playing a different sport. What I mean can be illustrated in a situation like this involving Songwriter(s) A and Songwriter(s) B.Songwriter A's publisher and/or attorney receive(s) a letter from songwriter B's publisher and/or lawyer telling Songwriter A that her/his new song has ripped off or infringed or copied or stolen Songwriter B's song. Publisher A/Attorney A informs Songwriter A that we better fix this. The way to fix this? Songwriter A simply and quickly needs to fork over half of A's copyright and future royalties on his/her song, and make sure that Songwriter B's name appears everywhere that Songwriter A's name appears on this song. All future royalties will be split between A and B.
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.
How NOT To Write A Hit Song (Pt. 3/3), Ernő Rubik, Bob Dylan, Iannis Xenakis, Whitfield & Strong
Do you think the eleven (11) constructs/stipulations are good advice for a songwriter? For a composer? (What’s the difference between a songwriter and a composer? This is a question to be explored in future posts.)Could you write a a great piece of music following these eleven (11) points?If you wrote a song that followed these exact eleven (11) stipulations, would you be infringing copyright? That's an enormous question and one that could lead to debate, certainty, uncertainty, anxiety, anger or confusion. Of that, I am certain. If you'd like, please start off that discussion below. I promise I can add to whatever discussion begins. :-)I expect that an attorney in the future will ask me this specific question at a deposition. (Rather than answer this question now, I'll leave it in this post just to annoy an attorney or two. I have also inserted a few statements in previous posts to see if attorneys or their paralegals are paying attention. This includes a factual omission I'm almost certain they'll never catch - smile smile!)
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?
How NOT To Write Great Music - Part 1
How do we create music? What are the best and worst ways to create music? Is it possible to answer these questions? I try to answer them in my own life and will begin a discussion with this post. So, here goes. I hope that the end result is laudable. I know the answer/end point and will concoct this path to get to the end. The way I'll approach these particular posts is to examine what NOT to do. By examining what NOT to do, we might better deduce what TO DO.
Welcome!
Welcome to EMichaelMusic.com, a place for the exchange of ideas on a multitude of subjects. Because I am paying for this website and registered it, and you just discovered its existence, I’ll start...Is it OK for a songwriter or composer to copy music and/or lyrics from someone else?Do you have a favorite example of a songwriter/composer copying music and/or lyrics from someone else?Do you have a LEAST favorite (or hated) example of a songwriter/composer copying music and/or lyrics from someone else?