No doubt you’ve heard that the district court legal decision regarding the apparent fact that the writers of “Blurred Lines” (Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and Clifford Harris Jr) plagiarized Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” has been upheld the U.S. Court of Appeals. I have to say, I’m still confused, particularly considering that the […]
Melodies and lyrics are protected by copyright, unless they’re old enough to have passed into public domain. But chords? You can usually use chord progressions from already-existing songs, even if that song is newly composed and under copyright protection. Looking for lists of progressions you can use in your own songs? “The Essential Secrets of […]
I get a lot of emails as well as blog comments that pertain to copyright. There’s a lot of confusion about what it is, because copyright is a legal term — the kind of thing that lawyers get paid to understand. So you’d be excused for not knowing everything about it if you aren’t a […]
There are lots of tricks that composers have used over the centuries to create new melodies based on already-existing ones. Some ideas: Slowing a known melody down so much that it becomes unrecognizable as the original. Example: The first phrase of Mozart Piano No. 16 in C major served as the main melody for “Hey […]
The term “poor man’s copyright” refers to the practice of mailing a copy of your song — or any other work that you’ve created — to yourself via registered mail, leaving the envelope unopened. Since registered mail displays the date of mailing, it’s believed that it can serve to support the assertion that you are the author of […]
Here’s a list of 5 easy things to try if you think you may have mistakenly copied someone else’s song. What do you use your iPad for? Why not let it help you improve your songwriting skills? Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Bundle, and increase your song’s HIT potential. For desktop, laptop, iPad, iPhone, or any other mobile PDF-reading device. You’d think that […]
