amen break, the history

http://videosift.com/story.php?id=3373

Had this over at my forum for close to a year now. :D :wiggle:

VEEERRYY Interesting!

Here's something -

The famous Happy Birthday song is copywritten. Both music and words. So, technically, when you go to a restaurant, tell them it is your birthday and they come out and sing to you, they better be singing their own song or else they beeter be paying royalties to the two old ladies that wrote it (or whomever holds the copyright today).

That said, how much of a song is copywritten when the music is "copywritten"? Just the melody? All of the musical pieces in the composition? How about the drums? How many songs are out there that have the same identical beat? Are any of them in copyright violation? What stops me from hearing a cool drum beat, practicing it from memory (after hearing it a thousand times) and then calling it my own?

So for that much, what would stop a company (like the sampler company mentioned at the end of the video) from having some really good drummer play all kinds of beats that you may have heard in songs? And copyrighting the thing? Then can they sue you for performing the same beats in *your* song?

For that matter, what if I had someone record the stiking of every percussion piece I could find and then me "piecing" the sounds together into a recognizable beat?

:think:

What you copyright are lyrics and melody. You can't copyright a drumbeat. However, samples are covered under sound rights, and are an entirely different issue. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cozmo D

What you copyright are lyrics and melody. You can't copyright a drumbeat. However, samples are covered under sound rights, and are an entirely different issue. :)

So, then, is it in violation of the sound rights for me to tap a snare, bass, and high-hat and then cut those sounds up digitally to match what was played in a copywritten song? IE what if I produce something that sounds like it, but is a digital mix of other sounds?

Or what if I was in a band and played those beats as my beat for a different song?

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmFan

So, then, is it in violation of the sound rights for me to tap a snare, bass, and high-hat and then cut those sounds up digitally to match what was played in a copywritten song?

No.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmFan

IE what if I produce something that sounds like it, but is a digital mix of other sounds?

If it is not an actual sample of the record then there is no sound rights violation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmFan

Or what if I was in a band and played those beats as my beat for a different song?

No problem, you can't copyright a drumbeat.
:cheers: