Speaking as a part-time musician that knows a lot of musicians, I don’t know anyone who’s worried about accidentally using prior works… that sentence doesn’t make a lot of sense, unless you’re talking about DJs & sampling & remixing specifically? In that case all samples are infringing, there doesn’t need to be a list of wrong samples, because all creative authors automatically have copy rights of their works, in the US. Sampling and remixing is somewhat tolerated as long as you steer completely clear of copying the whole song, and I’ve heard precedent tends to favor cases where people sample from multiple source and not just one other song.
Can you share some example cases of the debt you’re talking about? I’m not aware of any major problem along the lines you’re describing for people who are creating new music and not intentionally infringing a little bit.
I apologize because this will come off as dismissive, but I don’t mean it that way:
I’m specifically talking about musicians who make their living through music and who have enough exposure (say, through album sales) to have the attention of the rival record companies.
I say that because in the case of musicians who are “off the radar” the rules don’t really apply. Heck, it’s rare for a musician to get in trouble for playing an exact copy of a popular song at a small venue, but even then I think they all know that they could never release that song on Spotify or YouTube or anywhere else that’s “official” and that’s a demonstration of the kind of fear I’m talking about.
Can you share some specific examples? Which musicians? The ‘rival record companies’ comment hints that you’re talking about something different than copyright problems. But you’re also bringing up many vague fears and not citing examples. People can be scared of a lot of things, that doesn’t mean it’s reality. I’m trying to get a sense of what exactly you’re referring to because it sounds like you are tip-toeing around cases where people are actually infringing and trying to get away with it. Sampling is tolerated sometimes, but not legal. If you go down that road, you can’t necessarily expect to not be challenged.
Then there was sampling in the 80s which built the market for doing it on purpose. Of course your music has to be noticed and be making money before it really matters. Probably why most pop music today is devoid of melody and is just beats and sound effects.
Oh I agree it has happened, I just don’t believe that having it happen accidentally is a very big problem that musicians are sitting around worrying about, which is what @joshspankit claimed. This doesn’t happen very often, right? I’m ignoring sampling here, that’s copying on purpose, as you say, so far more likely to end in conflict.
Thanks for the example! I do wonder if Harrison would have had the same trouble today, those songs are pretty different despite the similarities. It’s not that surprising that among very simple three-chord diatonic major-key pop songs, a few would have a similar structure. The Harrison case might be just as much about opportunist money making as it is about copyright.
Is pop music devoid of melody these days? The term to me suggests Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Rihanna, Harry Styles, etc… I mean pop is (more or less) always vocals, which has melody (almost) by definition. I can’t think of much pop that can be summarized as just beats and sound effects… what artists are you thinking of?
I don't know if they are worrying about it as a whole, would need some sort of large study I guess. We do know that young people mostly don't worry about things like this, because they don't yet know they should. But probably there is still someone at a record company rejecting potentially costly pieces via software?
> What artists are you thinking of?
Radio stuff from mumble rap to Eilish. I'm sure there is some melody behind the vocals, right? At some point the musicians have to play something. But it is often ambient, obscured, and difficult to discern without repeated listens. Unlike earlier styles where the melody is central and you are hit over the head with it, Yaz or Van Halen come to mind.
Probably all the good sounding pop music chord sequences have been claimed at this point after almost a century of never-ending copyright. Though it is just a guess of mine, would be an interesting project if someone had the time and knowledge to map it out.
Can you share some example cases of the debt you’re talking about? I’m not aware of any major problem along the lines you’re describing for people who are creating new music and not intentionally infringing a little bit.