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Re: (TV) bummer



On 12/9/05, Joe Hartley <jh@brainiac.com> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 9 Dec 2005 17:52:44 +0000
> Keith Allison <keith@marquee.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> One wonders just how copyrightable just a chord sequence is.


My understanding is: not at all.  It's melody lines which are copyrightable,
I think, and there's some formula as to what percentage of a melody line has
to mirror another work before it's "infringement" (see the George Harrison
"He's So Fine"/"My Sweet Lord" debacle).  I could be wrong, and it might
have changed since sampling became an issue (although I think that the notes
"this song embodies portions of that song" are also based on what percentage
of the original work is sampled... or how much of the new work is made up of
the old one, or some shit).

Which leads me to wonder, on topic,  if the intro to "Days", consisting as
it does of the exact same melody line as the intro to "Mr. Tambourine Man"
with the minor difference of being backwards, is technically infringement?
And if so, infringement of whose copyright, since the writing credit on that
song goes to Bob Dylan, although Dylan himeslf as never played either riff
once in his life.  My, it's complicated, isn't it?


>
> It's all going to come back and bite the RIAA and the labels in the ass,
> just not soon enough for many people's liking.


Agreed.  The Walls of Jericho will come down, it's just gonna take a while
to tune the trumpet.

-Rex

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