The music industry is notorious for the legal battles that occur between artists regarding copyright Infringement. But let’s be real here there’s technically only twelve notes in western music so some similarities are bound to show up. I mean there’s only so many combinations of chords and melody that can be made that are unique. As I demonstrate the great musicians such as Bach, Handel and many others actively encouraged people to “steal” their works as it was a sign of honour that their works were good. So what has changed in society that has shaped the contemporary landscape?
The answer? The demand for monopoly and control regarding intellectual property. Essentially as we’ve become a more consumer based society, the desire for financial recognition for our works and ideas has increased.
This mass change of perspective in modern society has landed many musicians in hot water for copyright infringement. In the Coldplay vs. Satriani case, ‘Viva La Vida’ is a clear “rip off” of Joe Satriani’s earlier work ‘If I Could Fly’. Without getting into all the musical theory; the chordal progressions, melody and tempo are far too similar, and this combined with the fact that Jonny Buckman was familiar with Satriani’s work basically proves the case itself. A comparison is included in the Prezi below. Do you think Satriani’s case constituted copyright infringement? i’d love to hear your opinions in the comments below.
Also there’s more information about the case here.
Additionally, if you’re a lil music nerd like I am, you can dive into all that musical theory stuff to see just how similar they are here.
-Lizzellbee 🙂
References:
Oxford Dictionary, viewed 21st March 2016, <http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/copyright>
What Is Intellectual Property, World Intellectual Property Organisation, viewed 21st March 2016, < http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/>
Faden, E 2007, A Fair(y) Use Tale, Youtube video, May 21st , Youtube.com, viewed 21st March 2016 < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UycH2HvBRd4>
2009, Viva La Vida/ If I could Fly- Full Song, Youtube video, March 15th, Youtube.com, viewed 21st March 2016 < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjB024bZoB4>
Mitew, T 2016 ‘Copyright Structures and Industry Control’, Lecture, BCM112, University of Wollongong, March 14th < https://esplay.uow.edu.au/ess/echo/presentation/899c4003-1beb-4de1-8fe0-0e41bf779d0d?ec=true>
Lizzellbee 
Wow I didn’t even know about this! I think you have done a great job with this blog post. I like your style of writing, It’s very easy to read and it’s written in a way which feels like you’re just talking to the audience and not writing an essay. I also liked that you asked the audience questions, I feel like this is a great way to involve them in your post! As well as this your Prezi was very informative, giving some basic definitions of Copyright and utility really helped my understanding of what you were saying and where you were going with the information you had. Thinking outside the box with using the Coldplay vs. Joe Satriani case was a great idea, and something I haven’t heard about so It grabbed my interest very quickly. One thing I would suggest (which is only minor) would be including a few pictures in your blog post to break up your text, but other then that you did a great job and I really enjoyed reading your blog post!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great blog post Liz !
I love your interactive writing style through asking your readers questions throughout the post. It kept me interested whilst giving me a better understanding on this issues you touched on. I also really enjoyed the use of popular music as an example to further your argument. Examples like Coldplay helped to reinforce your views on copyright laws and the constant similarities within the music industry. Your Prezi was packed with great information as the definitions, laws and additional examples you touched on really gave me a better understanding of what copyright means within an industry that’s original content is targeted daily. Something small I would suggest would just be to embed your music examples within your future posts so readers are able to see the similarities without having to leave your page. Other than that this was a great post and I look forward to seeing more from you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This blog post really captures the main issue when it comes to copyright; there’s a limited amount of ideas out there and people are bound to come up with extremely similar ideas, particularly, as you said, in the music industry. A great example of this is Axis of Awesome’s 4 chord performance, where they played the same four chords continuously and move through a huge array of different songs that all use the same progression:
A lot of artists are inspired by the work of others and use it as a starting point for an idea or song, perhaps using the same theme for lyrics or the same harmony. Copyright has become so much more prevalent in our modern society and much more of a sensitive issue. Where do we draw the line between inspiration and copying?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey, your take on the intense copyright issues in the music industry was really interesting. So true how most music now-a-days basically has the same chords, same structure etc.. I mean most songs now are sampled from older songs, but i guess you can get around copyright if you have enough money. Definitely agree that such heavy reinforcement of copyright now is purely for prospect of recognition and financial gain. Its also kind of sad to see copyright be used in such extreme, manipulative ways, especially in these industries. Its like sure, if you’re a major artist with money you can steal songs but if budding artist even samples a song they’re at risk.
LikeLike