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Loathing, Litigating & Legislating; Adventures in Piracy & Final Thoughts about 2013 New Music Seminar
Trends in digital music were examined from these three (3) perspectives: Social networks, BitTorrent trends and What Drives Sales. Fortunately at this event in New York City, accounts of BitTorrent usage were dispassionate and objective unlike in the past, in cities that were not named, "New York," when speaker after speaker merely railed about the evils of the Internet, technology and BitTorrents. Surprisingly, railing against the Internet, technology and BitTorrents is still expected and favored in some circles.
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.
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.
Jonathan Coulton, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Glee and Whose Baby Got Back?
I heard about the Jonathan Coulton v. Glee thing all day yesterday, last night and this morning. As usual the Hollywood Reporter account is the best. Coulton took Sir Mix-A-Lot's Baby Got Back and transformed it into a much different composition. Coulton's radical revision is in the same league of radical revision as The Residents' The King And Eye in which they (The Residents) wildly re-imagined famous Elvis Presley songs. Here is one of the tamer re-imagines - The Residents' version of Don't Be Cruel. (I use the word, "re-imagine," so as to heap praise upon this practice which goes far beyond the normal, reserved arranging one often hears in popular music. Earth, Wind & Fire's take on The Beatles' Got To Get You Into My Life is another example but not as wildly reimagined as those by The Residents or Coulton.)
How I Hear It - Beethoven & Van Halen
Laugh, Wince & Wonder Why - Eduard Khil, Eric Idle, Barbara Boxer & Paula Abdul
The cloudy sky of the cover is as vague and indefinite as my December 31, 2012 and view of 2012. The colors of the photo do not seem real - the place, time of season and day also seem as untrue and uncertain.As for the following five (5) videos - they make me laugh, wince and wonder why. I hope you'll like them too and try to make them comport to your New Year's Eve's desire(s). Only the first video, featuring Eduard Khil, is appropriate as a reminder of people who died in 2012 and left behind a legacy. In the large list of great people who died this year...
The Russian Monster Fill, Bath Bombs, Tervis, Twitter + the letter "B"
Last night I learned about bath bombs and Tervis shakers. The bath bombs excited my excessively girly girly friend, while the Tervis shaker we found at Bed, Bath & Beyond in mall-infested Williamson County, was a Patriots shaker. I'll now be able to make my Irish versions of caipirinhas here in Middle Tennessee using my new New England Patriots Tervis shaker.Back to these are a few of my favorite Twitter things. When the dog bites, when the bee stings. I'm still stuck on that Mary Poppins' song. This time - the letter "B."
Do these parts of Alicia Keys' "Girl On Fire" remind you of another song?
There are six (6) places in "Girl On Fire" in which Alicia Keys sings, "Oh oh oh oh oh." Listen to the Alicia Keys "Girl On Fire" and especially these six sections.0.35 oh oh oh oh oh1.39 oh oh oh oh oh2.54 oh oh oh oh oh3.04 oh oh oh oh oh3.15 oh oh oh oh oh3.25 oh oh oh oh ohDo these five (5)-note melodic excerpts, that are heard six (6) times in "Girl On Fire," remind you of another song? As I mentioned, the song to which I am referring was a very big hit that appeared in a very big 1980's hit film. If you recognize the song, do you think there is a potential copyright problem?
Is Alicia Keys guilty of copyright infringement? A lawyer quotes a feebly written blog and files a foolish lawsuit
I was startled to read that "some of the suit is based on my reporting" as I had never heard of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed because of the "reporting" of a blogger, and especially a blogger who demonstrates his incontrovertible ignorance of copyright law.Friedman states, "Hopefully musicologists will be called in, etc. experts who can testify about Keys's use of two lines from the chorus of 'Hey There Lonely Girl' in 'Girl on Fire.'"This is such a poorly conceived and written sentence. First, is Friedman stating his hopes that musicologists "will be called in, etc.?" As a musicologist who has testified in copyright infringement cases in U. S. federal courts for 20 years, I am extremely curious as to what Friedman means by "etc...." As I try to understand, I think he might mean that we are called in and then comes other actions - the etcetra part. Just what does the "etc." of his sentence mean, and have I been "etc.-ing" these past 20 years or should I start "etc.-ing" now to make up for the times in which I did not etcetera?
I Had Almost Given Up On You - This Chord Didn't Want To Change (Part 1), 14-Style Bliss
One of the most famous songs that stays on one chord for a long time is the first and only song I know responsible for the name of a great band and a magazine.Muddy Waters - Rollin' Stone (1st new chord occurs @ 2.05)The Doors created one of those "must-know" ubiquitous guitar riffs with the opening of "Roadhouse Blues." This guitar riff and song open the album, Morrison Hotel. Morrison Hotel is the origin of the famous name, "Hard Rock Cafe."Doors - Roadhouse Blues (1st new chord occurs @ 1.19)
¡Cubanismo! at The Exit/In, Caetano Veloso, Café Tacuba & Music of The Americas
Perhaps it is best that in 2012 the entire hemisphere is called THE AMERICAS, mostly to make things less messy when it comes to division via land mass.* * * * * * * *To the simple point of this post - three (3) great songs from The Americas (the Americas situated south of continental U.S.) that feature * copyrightable introductions. *B R A Z I L, C U B A, M E X I C O
Music of Africa & Copyrightable Intros - Les Têtes Brulées, Four Brothers & Thomas Mapfumo
I've been passionate about world music since I was a little kid and heard some of my parents bossa nova albums, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Perez Prado, and some others. Also in those days there was I Love Lucy with some of Desi Arnaz' very hot bands on TV. I always loved what I perceived as its sophistication...The point of this post is world music and copyrightable intros in world music. I want to limit it to just three (3) examples, all of them from two (2) African nations - Zimbabwe and Cameroon.
Harvard Law School Lecture - December 5, 2012
I will be speaking at The Harvard University Law School today between noon and 1:15 PM in Wasserstein Hall 3036. The subject will be my work in, and take on, music copyright, intellectual property, tech and entertainment issues. This is a great honor and I am very happy to have been invited.This blog post will also double as my notes or at least a guide to the order of subjects. I'll be able to see this post on a monitor or my iPhone while my iPad plays the music. I'll also bring a DVD or two, unless I choose to access the same material on the Very Wide World Spider Web.
Copyrightable Introductions - Willie Nelson, The Roots, Oingo Boingo, Beach Boys, Desert Rose Band, Beatles
I want to go in the opposite direction from the last two posts - from introductions that are not very copyrightable to those that are very copyrightable. These are introductions that feature substantive musical expression, not the kind that is often associated with introductions. Again, these subjects - copyrightable intros and uncopyrightable intros - came up during this blogging process. I'm very glad they did as I now have more fun topics to explore.
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.
When Is A Musical Introduction Copyrightable? Katy Perry, White Zombie, The Pixies, Neil Young, Isaac Hayes
I thought I would start to listen more carefully and analyze introductions to songs to find the least and most COPYRIGHTABLE introductions, as well as the "in-between" introductions, i.e., introductions that would exhibit some copyrightable elements. I believe that there is a sliding scale of copyright protection - that some introductions are not copyrightable as musical compositions, some slightly so, some more so, and some extremely so. The length of the excerpt, both in terms of temporal length as well as number of attacks and/or articulations, as well as its originality would also be factors used in determining how copyright protection should be afforded an introduction.
I've Had The Time Of My Life & Do I Owe It All To Sandals.com Ripping Off The Beatles?
Q U E S T I O N SDoes Sandals sound like The Beatles?Does Sandals rip off The Beatles?Does Sandals infringe The Beatles?Does Sandals sound too much like The Beatles?Is the Sandals/Beatles issue a copyright problem?Is the Sandals/Beatles issue a right of publicity problem?Is the Sandals/Beatles issue an unfair competition problem?...
Talk Amongst Yourselves, Turn Me On, Beatles One Louder, the Buttocks Bowl
How can you get one's attention? Play a Beatles recording. Play something loud and very noticeable. Maybe the intro to a Beatles song. If one wants to hear a loud, striking, very original opening of a Beatles song, one that will really hit the ear, there is one song that WILL not do it. It would be the WORST BEATLES SONG, worst only in terms of making a listener notice. What is the Beatles song LEAST likely to get one's attention?
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.
Copyright From A - Z, Crime Before Thanksgiving, my 19th Annual Berklee Lecture, Inna & The Farlanders
At some points today, I'll select some topics for my two-hour presentation. I'll choose from these questions and issues and more:Can One Copy A Bass Line?Can One Copy A Chord Progression?Can One Copy A Guitar Solo?How To Break The Law/How To Get Away With Crime (Crime? "Fair Use" or The Perfect Crime ?)What Is Fair Use?Fair Use Done Right/WrongWhat Is Satire?What Is Parody?What Is Right of Publicity?Can One Sample?What Is A Mashup And When Are Mashups Legal/Illegal?