Music Plagiarism - How Common is it?

[BombedOne]

Heh, I gained interest for satellite tv to be able watch more and more music channels

 

[tomthebomb1968]

The Verve didnt make a penny from Bittersweet Symphony. The Stones originally offered a 50/50 split which Ashcroft accepted but then demanded the lot as it soared up the charts, not to mention the Ad revenue since. The legal ruling was that 47 out of 48 tracks layed down were original , by The Verve 1 was deemed as being owned by The Stones. Mick and Keith got the lot.

Source _http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1702513/famous_acts_of_plagiarism_within_the_pg5.html?cat=17

 

[rolfw]

Yes as mentioned above, a strange ruling.

 

[Analoguesat]

The music stings on THX trailers is almost identical to the intro on Countdown to Zero, a 1985 track by rock band Asia

THX trailers:

_http://www.thx.com/consumer/movies/8286511

Countdown to Zero:

_http://www.we7.com/track/Countdown-To-Zero?trackId=1437899&m=0

 

[compufunk]

Of course one of the best known one was Chester Burnett AKA The Howling Wolf who made 2 successful claims against Led Zeppelin. One song was "Whole Lotta Love" and the other I am not sure.

Led Zeppelin did quite a bit of that, as did Bob Dylan.

Some more uncredited covers by Led Zeppelin.....

    * "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" - A folk song by Anne Bredon, this was originally credited as "traditional, arranged by Jimmy Page," then "words and music by Jimmy Page," and then, following legal action, "Bredon/Page/Plant."
* "Black Mountain Side" - uncredited version of a traditional folk tune previously recorded by Bert Jansch.
* "Bring It On Home" - the first section is an uncredited cover of the Willie Dixon tune (as performed by the imposter Sonny Boy Williamson).
* "Communication Breakdown" - apparently derived from Eddie Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown."
* "Custard Pie" - uncredited cover of Bukka White's "Shake 'Em On Down," with lyrics from Sleepy John Estes's "Drop Down Daddy."
* "Dazed And Confused" - uncredited cover of the Jake Holmes song (see The Above Ground Sound Of Jake Holmes).
* "Hats Off To (Roy) Harper" - uncredited version of Bukka White's "Shake 'Em On Down."
* "How Many More Times" - Part one is an uncredited cover of the Howlin' Wolf song (available on numerous compilations). Part two is an uncredited cover of Albert King's "The Hunter."
* "In My Time Of Dying" - uncredited cover of the traditional song (as heard on Bob Dylan's debut).
* "The Lemon Song" - uncredited cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" - Wolf's publisher sued Zeppelin in the early 70s and settled out of court.
* "Moby Dick" - written and first recorded by Sleepy John Estes under the title "The Girl I Love," and later covered by Bobby Parker.
* "Nobody's Fault But Mine" - uncredited cover of the Blind Willie Johnson blues.
* "Since I've Been Lovin' You" - lyrics are the same as Moby Grape's "Never," though the music isn't similar.
* "Stairway To Heaven" - the main guitar line is apparently from "Taurus" by Spirit.
* "White Summer" - uncredited cover of Davey Graham's "She Moved Through The Fair."
* "Whole Lotta Love" - lyrics are from the Willie Dixon blues "You Need Love."

As mentioned, its a grey area. Music has evolved by people taking parts of other peoples music/ideas and changing them a little.

The whole folk scene (Including Blues) from which rock, pop etc emerged, is based on this principle.

I'm sure Howling Wolf himself borrowed/stole a lot of his ideas from other Blues artists who were probably long dead when he took Zeppelin to court. Robert Johnson was probably one of the most indirectly copied musicians of his era/genre.

 

[T_G]

Wow the Zeppelins did do a lot of thieving. I agree that there is some sort of give and take, but when you use the lyrics of someone you got to give the credit. it is not just about the $$$, it's about giving the guy who wrote it the respect.

 

[mikro]

How about this one: [video=youtube;41CIqYeFgFw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41CIqYeFgFw[/video]

 

[PaulR]

Well, I'd never heard of either of them before but it is pretty amazing that they could, accidentally, be so similar.

 

[mikro]

No accidents here for sure.
On the blog it says the musicians in the band of the composer probably new this song very well and may have performed it before.

The original song was very good known in Slovenia in those years, the Plagiat was a big hit later in the neighbouring Austria and Germany as well as several other countries ;)

 

[2cvbloke]

How about when composers take music they wrote and apply elements of their earlier work to a later and completely unrelated composition? One example of this is Star Trek's 2 and 3, the music written and composed by James Horner, and later Cocoon, again, same composer, but in the Cocoon theme and incidental music, you can here plenty of elements of Star Trek 2 & 3, would this be considered as plagiarism given how the music is used for a different purpose?

Or am I just being a geek?

 

[mikro]

It is also plagiarism, only it is not criminal. He can do that.

 

[Analoguesat]

Parts of the Asia track Alibis

-http://www.we7.com/album/Asia/Phoenix?m=0

sound very much like the Lindisfarnes track Run for Home...

-http://www.we7.com/song/Lindisfarne/Run-For-Home?m=0

 

[BombedOne]

Some clones in chronological order:

1. Beatles - "Something"
2. Alicia Bridges - "I love the nightlife"
3. VIA75 - "Somewhere"
4. Lenny Kravitz - "It aint over till it's over"
5. Ophelie Winter - "ce que je suis"
6. Christina Aquileira - "What a girl wants"